CUCURBITACEAE 455 



4. P. tomentosa Blume. Cantutay (Tag.). 



A scandent, herbaceous, more or less pubescent or quite glabrous, slender 

 vine, when crushed with a distinct odor of carbon bisulphide. Leaves ovate 

 to oblong-ovate, sharply acuminate, base rounded or slightly cordate, 6 to 

 10 cm long, 3.5 to 5.5 cm wide. Inflorescence of axillary, lax, peduncled, 

 few-flowered cymes, forming a leafy panicle. Flowers sessile. Calyx small, 

 5-toothed. Corolla 1 to 1.3 cm long, somewhat cylindric, pale-purple to 

 nearly white outside, rather deep-purple and villous within, the limb 

 somewhat spreading, with 5 undulate lobes. Fruit subglobose, about 5 

 mm in diameter. (Fl. Filip. pi. Bi, P. foetida.) 



Rather common in thickets, etc., fl. July-Oct.; throughout the Philip- 

 pines. India to China, Japan, and Malaya. 



17. SPERMACOCE Linnaeus 



Spreading or erect, branched herbs, the branches usually 4-angled. 

 Leaves opposite, the stipules connate with the petioles into a broad bristly 

 tube. Flowers small, axillary, solitary or fascicled. Calyx-tube with 2 

 to 4, rarely 5 teeth, often with interposed teeth or bristles. Corolla 

 tubular, funnel- or salver-shaped, the lobes 4, valvate. Stamens 4, inserted 

 on the throat or tube of the corolla. Ovary 2-celled; style filiform; ovules 

 1 in each cell. Fruit of 2 crustaceous or coriaceous mericarps which 

 dehisce variously. (Greek "seed" and "point," in allusion to the fruits 

 crowned by the calyx-teeth.) 



Species about 150 in most tropical and subtropical countries, 8 in the 

 Philippines. 



Stems and leaves hispid; corolla about 5 mm long. 1. S. hiapida 



Stems and leaves glabrous; corolla less than 2 mm long 2. iS. ocymifidea 



1. S. hisplda L. 



A procumbent, branched, scabrid or hispid herb, the branches rather 

 stout, often ascending, 4-angled, greenish or purplish, 10 to 40 cm long. 

 Leaves obovate, oblong, or elliptic, acute or obtuse, shortly petioled, 1 to 3 

 cm long, rather thick, scabrid; stipules bristly. Flowers axillary, fas- 

 cicled, 1 to 6 in each axil. Calyx green, slightly hispid, the lobes narrowly 

 oblong, 1.5 to 2 mm long. Corolla pale-blue or nearly white, about 6 

 mm long. Capsules oblong-ovoid, hispid or hirsute, about 5 mm long. 



In open dry grass lands and "waste places, especially near the sea, fl. 

 July-Feb.; widely distributed in the Philippines. India to China and 

 Malaya. 



2. 8. ocymoldes Burm. 



A slender decumbent or ascending herb, branched from the base, 20 

 to 40 cm high, glabrous or nearly so, the stems 4-angled. Leaves thin, 

 not scabrid, elliptic to oblong, acute, 1.5 to 2.5 cm long, the stipules pec- 

 tinate. Flowers numerous, small, axillary, crowded. Calyx green, 1.5 

 mm long. Corolla white, about 1.2 mm long, cleft nearly to the base. 

 Capsules about 2 mm long, somewhat hairy. 



In dry thickets, Guadalupe, near Fort McKinley, etc., fl. Sept.-Jan. 

 Of local occurrence in the Philippines. Tropical Asia, Africa, and Malaya. 



132. CUCURBITACEAE (GouRD or Calabaza Family.) 



Annual or perennial tendril-bearing vines with alternate, simple, lobed 

 or divided,, usually cordate leaves. Flowers regular, moneocious or dio- 



