254 Cucurbitacece. [Mukia. 



quite distinct, cells sigmoid ; fern. fl. : — ov. globose, glabrous, 

 style slender, 3-fid.; fruit a globose berry, spuriously 3-celled ; 

 seeds not numerous, each surrounded by a pulpy coat, slightly 

 compressed. — Sp. 12; 1 in Fl. B. Ind. 



B. laciniosa, L. Sp. PL 1013 (1753). 



Herm. Hort. Lugd.-Bat. 95. Burm. Thes. 50. Fl. Zeyl. n. 355. Moon 

 Cat. 67. Thw. Enum. 126. C. P. 1606. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 622. Burm. 1. c. t. 97. Wight, Ic. t. 500. 



Root large, tuberous, stems very slender, glabrous, often 

 spotted with darker green, internodes very long ; 1. 3-5 in., 

 ovate-rotundate in outline, very deeply cordate at base, cut 

 nearly to base into 5 lanceolate or linear acute, coarsely ser- 

 rate segm., the two basal ones deeply pedate, glabrous, thin, 

 the upper surface slightly rough with minute scattered scales, 

 petiole \-\\ in.; fl. in small clusters of 3-6, on short ped.; 

 cal.-segm. linear, filiform ; cor.-segm. oval-oblong, acute, pu- 

 bescent ; fruit globose, over f in. diam., smooth, bluish-green, 

 with broad, white, vertical stripes ; seeds gibbous at the sides, 

 with a prominent raised band running round the edge. 



Moist country up to 6000 ft.; common. Fl. Aug.-Oct.; very pale 

 yellow. 



Throughout the Eastern Tropics. 



There is no specimen in Hermann's Herb. I have no Sinhalese 

 name for this, Burman gives ' Basuagilli.' Hermann 1. c. says it is used 

 as a cathartic. 



9. MUKIA, Am. 



Perennial, tendrils simple, fl. small, monoecious, male and 

 fem. together in axillary clusters ; cal.-limb campanulate, with 

 5 linear segm., pet. very slightly connate ; male fl. : — stam. 3, 

 distinct, anth.-cell straight ; fem. fl. : — ov. ovoid, style thick, 

 surrounded at base by annular disk, placentas usually 2 ; 

 fruit a globose berry, spuriously 2-celled; seeds ovoid, some- 

 what compressed. — Sp. 2 ; both in Fl. B. Ind. 



Cogniaux places this under Melothria. 



L- scabrous beneath ; seeds tuberculated on sides . 1. M. scabrella. 

 L. softly hairy beneath ; seeds smooth . . . 2. M. LEIOSPERMA. 



1. HI. scabrella, Arn. in Hook. Journ. Bot. iii. 276 (1841). Kin- 

 kgkiri, .S\ Blochumochukkai, T. 



Fl. Zeyl. n. 356. Cucumis maderaspatanus, L., Sp. PI. 1012. Thw. 

 Enum. 125. C. P. 1616. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 623. Wight, Ic. t. 501. 



Stems long, slender, much branched, angular, very hispid 

 with spreading bristly hairs, young parts covered densely with 



