339 



efficient and harmless taenifuge by the United States Pharmacopoeia, 

 but experiments conducted at the Wellcome Chemical Research 

 Laboratories do not confirm the recorded statements respecting, the 

 efficacy of either the fatty oil or the resin of the pumpkin seed as a 

 taenifuge, the action is suggested as mechanical and their remedial 

 value is not sufficient to justify recognition by a national pharma- 

 copoeia (Power & Sal way, No. 104, seq. p. 359). 



Dried and powdered pumpkin is used in the process of preparing 

 leather for tanning on the Gambia (Dudgeon, Gambia Govt. Gaz. 

 6th March, 1909, p. 127). 



As shewing the value of this plant as a field crop, 2 acres have 

 been found to yield [in Queensland] 7500 table pumpkins, in six 

 months, irrigated every third week, to augment a trifling rainfall. 

 The market value of the crop was £93 15s*. (625 dozen at 3s.) giving 

 a return of £46 17s. 6d. per acre (Queensland Agric. Journ. xiii. 

 1903, p. 3). 



For cultivation see end of this Order. 



Eef. — " Cucurbita Petpo" in Diet. Econ. Prod. India, Watt, ii. 



1889, pp. 641-642. " Pumpkins," in Queensland Agric. Journ. ii. 



1898, pp. 357-358. '• Vegetable Marrow (Cucurbita Pepo ovifera)" 



in Vegetables and Flowers, Trop. Semi-trop. and Temp. Climates, 



Sutton & Sons, pp. 113-115. " Chemical Examination of Pumpkin 



Seed," Power & Salway, No. 104, Wellcome Chemical Research 

 Laboratories ; Reprint from Journ. American Chemical Soc. xxxii. 



March 1910, pp. 346-360. PI. Potageres, Vilmorin - Andrieux, 



pp. 213-219. 



Mukia, Arn. 



Mukia scabrella, Arn. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 561. 



III.— Rheede, Hort. Mai. viii. t, 13 ; Wight, Ic. PI. lnd. Or. ii. 

 t. 501 (Bryonia scabrella) ; Wight, Illust. ii. t. 105*. 



Vernac. name. — Ori-oka (Lagos, MacGregor). 



Lagos ; Nupe. 



Used medicinally in Lagos (MacGregor, Herb. Kew) ; the tender 

 shoots and bitter leaves used as a gentle aperient, a decoction of the 

 seeds as a sudorific, of the root for flatulency, and when chewed 

 relieves toothache (Diet. Econ. Prod. India). 



Found in Yam fields — one plant 8-10 ft., fruit red when ripe, one 

 4-6 ft., fruit yellow when ripe, Nupe (Barter, Nos. 1520, 1076, 

 Herb. Kew). 



SECHIUM, P. Browne. 



Sechium edule, Swartz, Fl. Ind. Occ. ii. p. 1150. 



Root-stock, perennial, large, amorphous, fleshy, somewhat like a 

 yam (Dioscorea satlva) ; Stem annual. Leaves membranous, cordate, 

 lobed. Inflorescence racemose. Flowers yellow, monoecious. Fruit 

 fleshy, 3-5 inches long, obovoid, oblong or pear shaped, furrowed, 

 one seeded. 



HI. — Jacq. Icon. Select, Stirp, Am. t. 163 (Sicyos edulis) ; Desc. 

 Ant. v. t, 328 (Cucumis acutangulus) ; Gard. Chron. Jan. 21st, 1865, 

 p. 51 (fruit) ; Mart, Fl. Bras. vi. pt. 4, 1. 35 ; Agric. Gaz. N.S. Wales, 

 iv. 1894, t. 28 ; Rev. Hort. 1900, p. 420; Gard. Chron. Dec 22nd, 

 1900, p. 450; Cook, U.S. Dept. Agric. Div. Bot. Bull. No. 28, 1901, 

 tt. 1-8 ; Queensland, Agric. Journ. xv. 1901, p. 621 (Frontispiece); 

 I.e. t. 6 (varieties of fruit) ; L'Agric. prat, pays chauds, \ii. I. 1907. 

 pp. 7, 9 ; Tropenpfl. xi. 1907, p. 704, ft. 1,2.' 



