€rccMis.] CUCURBITACE^. 373 



(ripe). — The fmit is cylindrical and quite smooth, and when ripe hnrsts 

 spontaneonslv, its colour at that time being yellow often mottled with 

 dai-k-green. 'it varies in size from 1-2 feet long-, and from 3-6 in in 

 diam., and weighs from 4-8 lbs. The seeds are smaller than those of 

 the melon. The estimated area in the North- West Prov. and Oudh 

 returned as under vhunt daring the rainy season of 18S1 w^as about 

 600 acres. The young fruit is cooked as a vegetable, or used as a sub- 

 stitute fcr the common cucumber ; when ripe it is regarded as scarcely 

 inferior to Vie melon. There are 2 distinct forms, one of which is 

 gTown during the hot season, and the other is a rainy-season crop. 



2. C. trigonus, Roxh. Hort. Benq. 70; Fl. Ind. Hi, 722 ; W. <^ A. Prod. 

 342; D. 4- tf- Bonih. Fl. 103 ; F. B. I. n, 619 {in part) ; Cogii. in BC. 

 Mo;i.Fhan.iii,4S5 ; WattE.D. C turbinatus, Roxh. Fl. Ind. Hi, 723; 

 W. .f A. Prod. I. c. C. pseudo-colocynthis, Royls III. 220,t.47,f. 2.— 

 Yern. Indrayan, hislumbha. 



A scabrous perennial herb. Tendrils short. Leaves 1-2 in. in diam., cor- 

 date, suborbicular, usually deeply palmately 5-7 lobed, scabrid ; lobes 

 rounded or ovate-oblong, obtuse, toothed or lobulate ; petioles 5-f in. 

 Male jioiuers generally solitary, shortly, peduncled. Ovary hairy, some- 

 times densely woolly or silky. Fruit about 1| in. long, obovoid, terete 

 or obscnrely trigonous, ultimately glabrous, the surface green with 

 vertical streaks of yellow. 



Abundant within the area. DiSTRlB. Throughout the greater part of 

 India; also in Afghanistan and Persia. Typical C trigonus, according 

 to Soxburgh, resembles most nearly his C. utilissimus (see under 

 C. Melo), but the leaves are more deeply lobed and more scabrous, the 

 flowers are small, scarcely | in. in diam. ; the fruit is 3-gonous and is 

 not eaten. Roxburgh's turhinatus is a smaller plant with briscle- 

 pointed leaves, much larger flowers, and the frnit is turbinate, 3-sided, 

 and it is eaten. C. pseudo-colocynthis has slender very scabrous stems, 

 the leaves are scabrous on both sides and covered with gland-like 

 hair-bearing tubercles. Male and female flowers solitary and long- 

 peduneled. Fruit oblong, smooth, and marked with 8 broad vertical 

 stripes, flesh very bitter. The fruit is collected in many places and 

 sold in the bazars as a drug, and very probably as an adulterant for 

 the true colocynth. 



3. C. prophetarum, Linn.; W. 4- A. Prod. 342; F. B. I. it, 619; Cog a. 

 in DC. Mon. Phan. Hi, 495. 



A perennial with scabrid whitish stems. Tendrils short. Leaves 1-1| in. 

 in diam., palmately o-.5-lobed, reniform or subtriangular in outline, rigid, 

 scabrid, canescent ; lobes acute or subobtuse, nerves prominent and 

 reticulate beneath; pefioZe ^-lin. MaZe ,/?0R-ers solitary or clustered 

 ii the axil*. Petals j in., villous. Fern, peduncle less than i in., stout. 

 Ovary slightly muricate. Frv.it about 1 in. long, subgiobose or ellip- 

 soid, puberulous and more or less softly aculeate, green with pale 

 stripes. 



Merwara (Duthie). Distrib. Sind, extending to Baluchistan, Persia, 

 Arabia, Abyssinia and Egypt. 



