MoaroEDiCA.] CUCURBITACE^. 369 



eaten as a vegetable, and in some places, as at Saharanpur, it is largely^ 

 made use of by confectioners in the preparation of a sweetmeat called 

 heshim. The fmit and seeds are medicinal. 



6. MOMORDICA, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii, 616. 



Climbing, with simple tendrils. Leaves cordate, petioled, un di- 

 vide! ill the Indiau species. Floivers yellow or white, moncecious or 

 dioei-ious ; females solitary, peduncled ; males solitary or racemed^ 

 bracteate or not. Male : Calyx-tube short, campamilate ; lobes 5. 

 Corolla 5-partite nearly to base. Stamens 3 (2 in M. Cymbalaria) ; 

 filaiuenls short ; anthers at lensjth free, one 1-celled, one or two 2- 

 ceiled, cells con duplicate, or in M. Cymbalaria horseshoe-shaped. 

 Female : Calyx and corolla as in the male. Ovary oblong ; style 

 long, stigmas 3 ; ovules very many, horizontal ; placentas 3. Fruit 

 oblong or spherical, rough or smooth, indehiscent or 3-valvate, many- 

 or few-seeded. Seeds obovate or complanate, smooth, corrugate or 

 sculptured — Species 25, in Trop. Asia, Africa and America. 

 Flowers monoecious. 

 Bract of male flower attached to the 



middle or tovvards the base of the 



peduncle . . . , . 1. M. Charantia, 



Bract of male flower at the apex of 



peduncle 2. M. Balsamina. 



Flowers dioecious. 



Petals yellow . . . . . -8. M. dioica. 



Petals white 4. M. cochinchinensis. 



1. M. Charantia, Linn. ; Roxh. Fl. Ind. Hi, 707 ; W. Sf A. Prod^ 

 34S : Eoyle III. 219 ; D. Sf G. Borrib. Fl. 102 ; F. B. I. ii, 616 ; Cogn. 

 in DC. Moji. Phan. Hi, 436; Field ^ Gard. Crops part ii, 62,t. LXIV 

 Watt E. D. M. humilis, Wall. ; Boyle I.e. 218. M. muricata, DC. ; Boyle ; 

 I.e. 219. — Yern. Karela, T<:areli. 



Stem 3-& ft. long, branching, pubescent towards the extremities. Tendrils 

 undivided. Leaves reniform-orbicular in outline, 1-3 in. in diam., deeply 

 5-7-lobed, thin, flaccid; lobes sinuate -dentate or lobulate, mucronate, 

 narrowed to the base, glabrous or slightly pubescent ; petiole 1-3 in. 

 Flovjers monoecious, yellow, about 1 in. across. Male peduncle slender, 

 with a reniform or orbicular bract at or below the middle. Cahjx-lohes 

 ovate, acute. Fern, peduncle 2-4 in., bracteate near the base. Ovary 

 fusiform, muricate. Fruit 1-5 in. long, orange-yellow, ovoid, tapering to 

 both ends, longitudinally ribbed with rows of triangular tubercles. 

 Seeds immersed in bright red pulp, compressed, sometimes almost 3- 

 toothed, margins corrugated, faces sculptured. 



Cultivated throughout India ; also in Malaya, China, Trop. Africa and in. 

 America. Its native country is not known for o&rtain. There are two 



