250 Cticurbitacece. \Cucumis. 



blunt beak, covered with short pointed processes; seeds large, 

 over \ in., ovoid, not compressed, tuberculate. 



Moist region and lower montane zone, 1500-4000 ft.; rather common. 

 Matale (Gardner) ; Hunasgiriya; Maturata; Ramboda: Dimbula; about 

 Kandy. Fl. July, Nov., Dec; lemon-yellow. 



Endemic. 



The leaves are very variable ; the central lobe is, however, always the 

 largest, and is often elongated and very acuminate. 



5. CUCUMIS, L. 



Annual (or perennial?), tendrils simple; fl. rather small, 

 monoecious, male in small clusters, fern, solitary; cal.-limb 

 campanulate, segm. 5, setaceous; pet. 5, connate at base; 

 male fl. : — stam. 3, fil. very short, anth. connate (or distinct ?), 

 connective produced into a lobed appendage; fern, fl.: — style 

 short, slender, stigmas very large; fruit fleshy, spherical or 

 ovoid, solid, smooth; seeds very numerous, oblong-oval, com- 

 pressed, smooth. — Sp. about 25 ; 4 in Fl. B. Ind. 



L. rather deeply cut into 5 obtuse lobes . . . 1. C. trigonus. 

 L. shallowly cut into 3 or 5 acute lobes . . . 2. C. PUBESCENS. 



1. C. trigonus, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 722 (1832). Metukku, T. 



Thw. Enum 127. C. P. 161 8. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 619. Wight, Ic. t. 497. 



Annual (?), stems numerous, prostrate, more or less hispid ; 

 1. rather small, 1J-2 in., broadly cordate-ovate, more or less 

 deeply 5-lobed, lobes rounded, dentate, scabrous on both sides, 

 petioles usually longer than 1. ; fl. as in C. pubescens ; fruit 

 not seen. 



Dry region; rather rare. Aripo and Batticaloa (Gardner); Mannar; 

 Minneri. 



Throughout India, Affghanistan, Persia. 



1 am quite doubtful as to the name of this dry-country plant, of which 

 I have not seen the fruit. I suspect our specimens are often merely 

 degenerated examples of the common native cucumber, ' Rata-kekiri ' 

 (a form of C. sativus, L.), which is much cultivated. 



Wight, 1. c, figures the fruit as globular, less than 1 in. diam., and with 

 10 stripes down the sides. 



C. pubescens, Willd. Sp. PI. iv. 614 (1805). Gon-kekiri, 

 K.<5kiri, 5. 



C. maderaspatanus, Moon Cat. 67 (non L.). Thw. Enum. 127. C. P. 

 3534- 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 619 (under C. trigonus). Wight, Ic. t. 496 (?). Royle, 

 111. Him. t. 47 f. 3 (C. Hardwickii). 



Stems long, bluntly angular, rough with hooked prickly 

 hairs on ridges; 1. 3-4I in., broadly cordate-ovate, with the 



