Trichosanihes.] lxv. CDCUKBiTACEiE. (C. B. Clarke.) 60.7 



Sat. i. pt. i. 679. T, cordata, Wall. Cat. 6686 excl. A and B. T. anguina, 

 Wall Cat. 6687 V partly. T. bracteata, Kurz in Jowm. As. Soa. 1877, pt. ii. 99. 

 Oucurbita Melopepo, Wall. Cat. 6725. Involucraria Wallichii, Seringe in DC. 

 Prodr. iii. 318. Bryonia palmata, Wall. Cat. 6711 F. 



From the Himalayas to Ceylon and Singapghb ; very common in all moist 

 thickets, ascending to 5000 ft. — Disteib. Malaya, China, Japan, North Anstralia. 



Climbing often 30 ft. Diceeicms so far as all the examples go, but Roxburgh has 

 placed it in Monoecia without remark. Leaves 2-6 in. diam., not at all hairy beneath, 

 usually glabrous or less commonly scabrous on the nerves, often with several large 

 glands near the apex of the petiole, cordate .at the base ; segments dentate, serra^te, 

 divaricate, sometimes subpinnatifid (var. mcjsa Heyne), usually acute (but obtuse in 

 var. sirmata, Heyne) ; petiole 1-3 in. Tendrils commonly 3-fid. Male fedwncles 

 usually paired, the racemed one 6 in., naked below ; bracts ovate or obovate; glabrous 

 or viscid with scattered glands or pubescent. Calyx-tvhe \\ in,, closely tomentose or 

 glabrous; sometimes much larger in the Sikkim examples; teeth long-lanceolate, 

 sometimes dentate serrate or subpinnatifid. Fruit \\-1 in. diam., not acute, bright 

 red with 10 orange streaks. Seafo very many, immersed in green pulp. — The ex- 

 treme forms of the leaves are var. laciniosa, Wight, which has the leaves palmate • 

 nearly to the base, the segments scarcely J in. wide and sometimes subpinnatifid ; 

 and vatr. Thomsoni from Moradabad with the leaves entire and slightly 5-angular : in 

 both the leaves are coriaceous and with their petioles more or less covered -with 

 scattered round white minute ilat scales The Himalayan specimens recede further 

 by their large subsueculent flaccid leaves and very large flowers. 



Vab. Scotanthus, C. B. Clarke ; calys-teeth broad-lanceolate entire, petals nearly 

 destitute of fimbriations especjially in the female. • , '■" 



Vab. tomentosa, Heyne in Herb. Eottler ; leaves tomentose beneath divided not 

 more than half-way down. — Deccan Peninsula Mts. ; Wight No. 1134-, 1136 partly; 

 (?. Thomsori. Ceylon, alt. 2600 ft. ; Garrdmer. — This looks like a good species but 

 the fruit and seeds are as in var. 1. This closely resembles the Australian ■ T-. 

 subvebitina Muell. in Herb, referred to T. palmata by Bentham. The distribution of 

 T. palmata is extended to Japan on the faith of two examples collected by Maxi- 

 mowicz. They belong to the commonest Bengal type of T. palmata, but bear the 

 name T. japonica, Eegel, which in Begel Ind. Sem. 1868, p. 90, is said to have 

 solitary male flowers, and has been referred by authors to the neighbourhood of T. 

 cucuTtierina. A Trichosanthes collected in Mergui by Griffith No. 769 .(No. 2o32 Kew 

 Distrib.) has the leaves with short hairs beneath ; otherwise resembles the var. 

 tomenlosa. 



2. T. multiloba, Miq. Ann. Mus. Imgd. Bat. ii. 82 ; leaves deeply (only 

 half-way down) palmate in 6 or 3-9 lobes narrowed near their base, bracts 

 ovate or obovate deeply serrate, fruit 2-4 in. ovoid or oblong acute, seeds |-| 

 in. mqre or leas angidar on the margins. T. grandibraoteafa, Kurz in Joum. 

 As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 99 ex descr. 



: SiEKiM, East Himalaya and Khasia Mts. ; alt. 2000-6000 ft. ; plentiful. Ma- 

 lacca? JlffeiM^'ay 671.— Distbib. China?. Bharao. Japan. 



Rambling extensively. Dioecious. Leaves 3-6 in. diam., usually glabrous beneath 

 or less commonly scabrous with scattered bristles, subcordate at the base ; segments 

 serrate (sometimes lobed)y ascending, less divaricate than in T. palmata, acute ; 

 petiole 1-3 in., often with several large glands near the apex ; tendrils commonly 

 3-fid. Male peduncles usually paired, the racemed one 6 in., naked below. Calyx- 

 tube 1-2^ in. ; teeth lanceolate-subulate, entire. Fruit bright red with orange streaks. 

 Seeds very many in green pulp. — This is perhaps a variety of T. palmata, the Hima- 

 layan large form of which it so closely resembles, that in the absence of the fruit it 

 cannot always be distinguished from it.— The locality "China " i^ added on the faith 

 of Hance's No. 13,745 marked T. palmata Soxh. which it may be, as it does not ex- 

 hibit fruit nor does Maingay's Malacca, example. 



