Momordica.] lxv. ctJcuebitaoe^. (C. B. CMtke.) 619 



one 2-fid one 3-fid so each with one anther-cell; filaments inserted near the top 

 of the calyx-tube, anthers ooinpletely exsert. Female pedmtiole |-2 in., l-fiovrered, 

 •ebracteate. Fruit f by scarcely J in. Seeds ^J in., few, shortly obovoid, smooth, 

 «hiuing. 



10. CUCUIWXS, Idnn. 



OlimMng herbs, hispid or scabrous ; tendrils simple. Leaves petioled, pal- 

 matelj 3-7-lobed or S-angled or entire, dentate or serrate. Flowers yellow, 

 jnonoecious, males clustered in the axils, females solitary, all shortly peduncled. 

 Male : calyx-tube top-shaped or campanulate, lobes 5. Stamens 3 ; anthers 

 fiee, one 1-celled, two 2-celled, cells conduplicate or much fleiuose, donnective 

 produced in a crest. Female : calyx and corolla as in the itiale ; ovary ovoid, 

 style short, with three obtuse stigmas ; ovules very many, horizontal ; placentas 

 3. Fruit fleshy, indehiscent, large or small, spherical or elongate, smooth or 

 tuberculate. Seeds very many, oblong, compressed, mostly smooth. — DisTElS. 

 Species 25, of which half are African, a few in the tropical regions of Asia, 

 Australia and America, and several widely cultivated of doubtful origin. 



1. C. tri^onus, iioxi. Fl. Ind. ii. 722; leaves and petioles scabrid not 

 softly hairy, petioles :j-f in., flowers small, ovary hairy sometimes densely 

 white wooUy or silky, fruit about 1^ in. ultimately glabrous ellipsoid o* ob- 

 ovoid round or obscurely trigonous. W. §■ A. Prodi: 342 ; Wiffht Id. t. 497 ; 



Tfight III. t. 105; Soiss. Fl. Orient, ii. 758; Balis. ^ Gibs. £omb. Fl. 103; 

 l^aud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, xi. 30. 0. turbinatus, Boxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 723 ; 



W. 4 A. Prodr. iii. 342 ; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 671. 0. maderasp'atahus, 

 -ffioA l.c. 723; WaU. Cat. 6734. 0. Melo var. agrestis, iVanrf. I.e. 73. 0. 

 pubescens, WaU. Cat. 6729 ; W. ^ A. Prodr. 342 ; JRmjle lit. t. 47 ; Wight to. 

 t 496 ; Dab: Sr Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 103, perhaps not of WiUd. 'and others. C. 

 pseudo-colocynthis, Moi/le III. t. 47. 0. eriocarpus, Boiss. Diagn. ii. 69. 

 Biyonia caUosa, Herb. Mottler ; WaU. Cat. 6710. 



Thronghout IsniA. — Disteeb. Malaya, North Australia, Afghanistan, Persia. 



Boot perennial, by which character alone it can be distinguished from C. Melo 

 According to Kaudin, but the examples seen and collected in India are almost inva- 

 riably less than one year old. Stem in the typical examples scabrid ; tendrils short. 

 Leaves 1-2 in. diam., orbicular subpentangular, in the typical plant deeply palmate- 

 lobed, lobes very scabrid and often narrow ; in the more flacftid C. pubescens the hairs 

 more scattered, the leaves entire, 5-angled 5-lobed ; petiole J-1^ in. Peduncles of 

 males and females ^1 in. Fruit sometimes with a few scattered hairs, often with 

 .10 stripes. — The plants marked by Indian botanists as C. pubescens are reduced to 

 C. trigomts by Naudin in the Kew Herbarium. Kurz (in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 

 103) separates C. trigonus with solitary peduncles from C. pubescens with clustered 

 peduncles and makes the latter a variety of C. Melo, Linn. 0. 'pubescens of Thwaites 

 Emm. (C. P. 3534) has remarkably acute lobes to the leaves and resembles C. 

 Ha/rdimcMi, but there is no note of the fruit. 



2. C. prophetarum, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. iii. 301 ; leaves and petioles 

 scabrid not softly downy, flowers small, petals \ in., ovary very tuberculate, 

 iruit about 1 in. more or less tuberculate ellipsoid. Wall. Cat. 6733 ; W. ^ A. 

 Prodr. iii. 342 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, ii. 758 ; Natid. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, xi. 14. 



SoaroE ; Stocks.-^HiSTRis. Boloochistan, Arabia, TTropical Africa to Guinea. 



Stem scabrid; tendrils short Leaves 1-1^ in., reniform, subtriangular, much 

 iobed ; petiole ^1 in. Female peduncle less than J in,, stout. Fruit green, with 

 paler vertical stripes. 



