CUCURBITACEiE. 137 



of food among the Egyptians. It is also rubbed over the 

 surface of the body, alter the bath, to act as a cosmetic. 



V. Bryonia. 



Flowers moncecions or dioecious. Petals scarce- 

 ly united at the base. <? Calyx 5-toothed. Sta- 

 mens 3-adelphous : anthers flexuose. ? Style 

 3-fid. Fruit ovate or globose, smooth, few-seed- 

 ed : seeds ovate, scarcely compressed, more or 

 less margined. 



Name from Pgvu to grow rapidly. 



1. Bryonia racemosa. Jamaica Bryony. 



Lower leaves palmato-5-lobed, the leaves high- 

 er on the stem 3-lobed and undivided, divisions 

 oblong mucronate denticulated, flowers racemose, 

 peduncles subsecund, fruit ovoid. 



Bryonia racemosa foliis ficulneis. Plum. Amer. 83. 

 t. 97. — B. foliis hirtis, trilobis, vel quinquelobis, racemis 

 minoribus alaribus. Browne, 335 — B, racemosa, Swartz, 

 Fl. Ind.Occ. 1148. 



H A B. Common, in thickets and by the road-sides in 

 the mountains. 



F L. December — March. 



Root perennial. Stem at the base woody ; afterwards 

 herbaceous, very long, scarcely thicker than a swan's 

 quill, anguloso-sulcated, hispid. Leaves palmate : the 

 early leaves 5-lobed, the later ones 3, or sub-5-lobed ; 

 middle lobe the largest ; lateral ones less distinct ; all of 

 them oblong, mucronato-apiculated, serrato-dentate or 

 denticulated ; nerves 3, with the lateral nerves bifurcated ; 

 veins reticulated ; surface hispid ; petiole subterete, 

 channelled, hispid. Tendrils axillary, subsimple. Ra- 

 cemes axillary, arising between the petiole and the tendril, 

 shorter than the petiole, about 4-flowered, subsecund. 

 Peduncle thick, anguloso-sulcated, hispid : pedicels short, 

 terete, 1-flowered. Flowers dioecious. $ Pedicels not 

 more than 2 lines in length, minutely hispidulous. Calyx 

 campanulate, contracted at the throat, 5-toothed ; teeth 



Vol. 2. i * 



