BENINCASA OERIFERA, SavL' 



[Vide Plate XLV.] 



Dcsciiption. 



Origin. 

 Varieties. 



Cultivation. 



English, white gourd melon; Vernacular, petha (Saliaranjiur), kumhra (Cawnpore), 

 kondha (Allahabad), bhunja and chal-kumhra (Himalayan Districts).! 



Natural order Cumrhitacea;, tribe Cucumerinece. A large climbing or trailing gourd thickly 

 clothed with white or rusty coloured pubescence. Stems thick, angular, sulcate, hispid, hairs 

 jointed ; tendrils usually 3-fid. Leaves 3-6 in. across, sub-orbicular, cordate, 5-7 lobed ; lobes 

 broadly triangular, acute or acuminate, bright green above, paler below and more hispid ; petiole 

 thick, 2-3 in. long, without glands at the apex. Flowers large, yellow, solitary, monoecious. 

 Male : — calyx tube campanulate, densely villous, lobes 5, large, serrate ; corolla deeply lobed, 

 divisions nearly separate, obovate, mucronate ; stamens 3, inserted near the mouth of the corolla 

 tube, filaments angular, hispid at the base, anthers exserted, free, 1-celled in one and 2-celled in 

 the other two, cells sigmoid. Female : — calyx and corolla as in male ; ovary oblong or ovoid, 

 hairy ; style thick, stigmas 3, flexuose ; ovules numerous, horizontal ; fruit fleshy, oblong or ovoid 

 cylindrical, ft., hairy and bright green when young, becoming smooth when ripe, and covered 

 with a waxy bloom, often blotched with white, flesh white ; seeds ovate oblong, about |-in. long, 

 flat, maringed. 



A native of Japan and Java according to M. Decandolle.^ 



This plant has a superficial resemblance to the pumpkin {fiucurbita Pepo), under 

 which name it was described by Roxburgh (1. c.) ; and even now the seeds of kumhra 

 { 'Benincasa) are constantly distributed in this country under the name of C. Pepo. It 

 may easily be distinguished from the latter however by its soft not pungent hairiness, 

 and by the wax-like bloom which covers the fruit. 



The cultivation of this and the following species of gourds is restricted as a rule 

 to little highly manured patches in the vicinity of the village sites, and is almost entirely 

 in the hands of men of the kdclii and mdli (or murad) castes. They may be sown 

 either in the hot weather or at the commencement of the rains, and with the exception 

 of melons, continue fruiting until the close of the rainy season. 



Occasionally they form the sole crop on a field, but they are more generally 

 associated with a number of other vegetables, whose habit of growth permits of their 

 being grown together without much mutual harm. Thus gourds are not uncommonly 

 sown in lines between rows of young sugar-cane or maize, being off the ground before 

 the main crop has grown sufficiently high to choke them. Certain of the order {e. g.. 



* References:— Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind ii. G16 ; Kurz. in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. (1877) Part ii. 101 ; Daden-Powell Punj. 

 Prod. 2G5 ; Atkin.son Econom. Prod. N.-W. P. Part v. p. 7 ; Gaz. N.-W. P. Vol. x. 700 ; 205. B. hlspida, Cogiiiaux in DO. 

 Mon. Phan. iii. 513 ; Rheede Hort. 8 p. 5 t. 3 ; DC. L'Orig. PI. Cult 213. Cacurbita Pepo, Lour. Fl. Cochin 503 ; Koxb. FI. 

 Ind. iii. 718 ; Gaz. N.-W. P. Vol. x, 702 (in part). 



t Gaz. N.-VV. P. Vol. X. 1 c. 



t Orig. PI. Cult. 1 c. 



G 2 



