Bryonia.] CuClirbitaceCE. 253 



7. CITRULI.US, Schrad. 



Annual or perennial, tendrils 2-3-fid., fi. rather large, 

 monoecious, all solitary in the axils ; cal.-limb campanulate, 

 segm. 5, narrow; pet. 5, united nearly halfway up to form a 

 cup-shaped cor.; male fl.: — stam. 3, small, anth. distinct, cells 

 conduplicate; fern. fl. : — ov. broadly oval, style stout, with 3 

 small staminodes around it, stigmas 3 ; fruit rather large, 

 globose, smooth, pericarp hard ; seeds numerous, immersed 

 in solid white pulp, oval, compressed, smooth, not winged. 

 — Sp. 2; both in Fl. B. Ind. 



C. Colocynthis, Schrad. in Linnoea, xii. 414 (1838). Yak- 



komadu, S. Peykkomaddi, T. 



Moon Cat. 67. Thw. Enum. 126. C. P. 1607. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 620. Wight, Ic. t. 498. Bentl. and Trim. Med. PL 

 t. 114. 



Stems long, prostrate, slender, angular, scabrous or some- 

 times hairy; 1. 1^-3^ in., variable, usually deltoid in outline, 

 very deeply trifid, the middle lobe the longest, each lobe 

 deeply pinnatifid, with the segm. lobed or dentate, margin 

 often involute, nearly glabrous above, very scabrous with 

 short, swollen, prickly bristles beneath, petiole about half 

 length of L, bristly or hairy ; fl. rather large, peduncle about 

 \ in., rough or hairy; cal. hairy, segm. linear-lanceolate; cor.- 

 segm. oval, subacute ; ov. globular-ovoid, hairy, placentas 

 very large, filling cavity, style short ; fruit globular, slightly 

 depressed, 2 in. diam., smooth, dark green mottled with 10 

 lines of paler irregular spots, pericarp thin, completely filled 

 with white spongy pulp divided by 6 spurious partitions ; 

 seeds horizontal, scarcely j in., pale brown. 



Dry and desert regions ; rather rare. Batticaloa (Gardner); Puttalam 

 (Moon;; Jaffna. Fl. January, Feb.; pale yellow. 



In India, Arabia, W. Asia, N. and Trop. Africa, and the Mediterranean. 

 The plant is not cultivated in Ceylon, and the fruit above described is 

 that of the wild plant, and differs much in size from the Colocynth 

 obtained from the Mediterranean for pharmaceutical purposes. 



C. vulgaris, Schrad., the Water Melon (Komadu. S.), indigenous to 

 Trop. Africa, is cultivated in the dry districts. There are figures of 3 

 varieties in Duthie, Crops, tt. 47, 55, 56. 



8. BRYONIA, L. 



Perennial, tendrils bifid, fl. rather small, monoecious, male 



and fern, in small clusters, in same axils ; cal.-limb cup-shaped, 



.1. 5 ; p':t. 5, united for about \ way up ; male fl.: — stam. 3, 



