392 LXIII. CUCURBITACES. [ Lagenaria 
between them and thus making the fruit quasi 6-celled ; seeds 
ovate-lanceolate. On the sandy shore between Penedo and Conceigio, 
rather rare; fl. and young fr., one specimen, beginning of Aug. 1858. 
At the banks of the river Bengo ; fr. Dec. 1853. In moist thickets 
along streams and in immense quantity at the banks of the river 
Bengo and near Quicuxe ; also in maritime sandy sparingly grassy 
places between Penedo and Conceig&o ; quite wild and abundant ; fl. 
beginning of March 1858. No. 854. ; 
Gotunco ALtTo.—A herb, climbing to a great distance ; flowers 
white. Very frequently cultivated and often wild, at the bushy grassy 
banks of streams near Sange ; fl. and fr. end of Feb. 1856 ; and near 
Bango, fr. July 1857. Native name ‘“‘ Binda,” which is used also for 
different varieties. A variety with small fruit, LZ. microcarpa Naud. in 
Rev. Hort. 1855, p. 65 cum fig. It is difficult to decide whether this 
plant is indigenous here, but it is certain, according to Mariano, one of 
Welwitsch’s informants on such matters, that the Binda was in 
frequent use among the negroes long before the conquest of the 
country by the Portuguese. The variety with oblong fruit, which is 
not bitter, is called in the trade by the negroes “ Dinhungo,” and is 
eaten like the “ Abobora branca,” the Portuguese name of this species 
in Portugal. No, 859 and Cott. Carp. 143. 
Hurtua.—An annual or biennial herb, occasionally dicecious, some- 
times moneecious, the whole plant musk-scented ; stem angular ; leaves 
nearly undivided or somewhat lobed, unequally crenate-denticulate ; 
petiole rather long, with two opposite glands at the insertion of 
the leaf-blade ; tendrils bifid ; peduncles axillary, solitary, 1-flowered ; 
petals obovate, narrowed at the base, not acute at the apex but 
acuminate in the middle ; fruit flask-shaped, at the neck much shorter 
and thicker than in the forms cultivated in Europe, eaten by the negroes 
and recent colonists, when dry used for many domestic purposes and 
serving instead of the shells of ostrich eggs. Everywhere wild about 
dwellings, but the true home unknown (as is the case with the majority 
of the most useful plants). Near Lopollo, Ohai, Humpata, etc.; , 
Lopollo, male fl. 2 April 1860. An edible variety. No. 860. 
7. ACANTHOSICYOS Welw. ex Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Pl. i.p.824. 
1. A. horrida Welw. ex Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Pl. i. p. 824, 
and in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvii. p. 31, tt. xi. xia (1869); Hook. 
f. in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. p. 531; Cogn. in DC. Monogr. Phan. 
iii. p. 419 (1881); Ficalho, Pl. Uteis, p. 187 (1884). 
MossaMEDES.—A very singular shrub, 3 to 4 ft. high, repeatedly 
branched, with its decumbent-ascending very ramulose and highly 
intricate branches forming little mounds 10 to 15 ft. in diameter at 
the base, covered by degrees with blown sand 5 to 10 ft. high, gummy ; 
habit not very different from that of Asparagus stipularis Forsk. in 
Portugal ; stems green-glaucous, cylindrical, sulcate-striate, very 
tenacious, flexible, much branched ; branches and the somewhat shaggy 
branchlets furnished at the base on both sides with a spinescent 
stipule ; leaves apparently wanting or very deciduous; flower-buds 
green outside, greenish-yellow inside ; calyx-lobes 5, unequal or some- 
times equal, ovate, acute. In sandy deserts between Porto de 
Pinda and Banza de Caroca, 8. Lat. 16°, abundant; not yet in full 
flower, beginning of Sept. 1859. Called by the negroes “ Nara,” 
“ M-nara,” or “ Naras.” No. 806. 
Namaqua Lanp.—Collected by A. B. Wollaston. Conx. Carp. 602. 
