N. 0. CUCURBITACE^. 579 



Stems often as thick as a man's arm, marked with parallel rows 

 of irregular, small warts on either side of each fissure, nodnled 

 and pointed, each joint Jl-2 or 3in. distant; giving off leaves 

 on branches at joints only. Outer bark light-grey or brown, 

 warts corky, peeling off easily in regular bits, often presenting 

 the appearance of crocodile stem. Mesophloem deep green. 

 Tendrils 3, or 2-fid, minutely spiral. Leaves 4-8in. long, 2-6in. 

 broad, 3-5 or even 7-lobed, palmate, membranous, bright green ; 

 lobes acute, more or less dentate-serrate, glabrous, often scab- 

 rous with 1 or 2 small glandular discs above and on the nerves 

 beneath ; base cordate ; nerves 3-5, petiole l-2in. long, winding 

 or twisted, channelled, with several glands at apex, scabrous. 

 Stipules single, small, axillary. Flowers white ; delicate, in the 

 female, stout white in the male. Male flowers : — Racemes, 

 drooping 6-9 in., axillary longer than the leaves, solitary, few- 

 flowered. Peduncles sometimes paired, stout, 5-6in. long. 

 Flowers over 2in. nearly sessile, distant, each in the axil of 

 a very large broadly wedge-shaped, glabrous or pubescent, 

 lacerate persistent bract lin. or more long, often set with 

 broad flat glands. Calyx-segments ovate, tomentose, deeply 

 toothed or serrated, leafy, 1-1 J in., bractlike petiole, rather longer 

 than the Calyx-segments, lin., wedge shaped, with many and 

 long filiform lacinise. Corolla 4in. diam., hypercrateriform, hav- 

 ing the appearance of a parasol, with its fimbriae hanging down 

 in beautiful tapers. Petals marked yellow at base, cuneate. Fila- 

 ments triadelphous. Anthers syngenseious, very anfractuous. 

 Female flowers solitary, smaller and more delicately fimbria- 

 ted than the male, axillary ; peduncle not so stout as in the male. 

 Calyx- teeth of the female flower less marked. Calyx-tube short. 

 Petals, according to some, nearly destitute of fimbria. Corolla 

 altogether much smaller than that of the male. Fruit 2-4in. 

 diam., globose, smooth, of the size of an ordinary orange, with 

 a blunt nipple, brilliant scarlet, crimson ; pericarp thick ; pulp 

 greenish, seeds numerous, densely packed, each seed about i-Jin. 

 long, oblong, compressed, smooth, brownish-grey, obtuse- 

 margined, containing a sweet oily kernel. 



Parts used : — The fruit and root. 



