TRICHOSANTHES ANGUINA, Unn: 



[Fjrfe Plate XL VI.] 



English, snake gourd; Vernacular, chachinda, chachinga (Rohilkhand). 



Natural order Cucurhitacece, tribe Cucumerinece. Steins slender, herbaceous, climbing or trail- 

 ing, angular, hairy ; tendrils 3- or 2-5-tid, stiff", sulcate. Leaves sub-orbicular or reniform in 

 outline, 5-7-lobed, sparingly hairy above, lower surface with short dense pubescence becoming 

 scabrid when old ; lobes rounded, with a denticulate and undulate margin. Flowers mona3cious, 

 white, about 1 in. across. Male flowers on a long peduncled raceme with minute bracteoles at the 

 base of each flower ; calyx slender, tubular, about 1 in. long, puberulous, teeth 5, subulate ; corolla 

 lobes narrow, oblong, free almost to the base, margins fimbriate ; stamens 3, filaments slender, 

 glabrous, anthers connate, one 1-celled and two 2-celled. Female flowers solitary, axillary, shortly 

 peduncled ; calyx and corolla as in the male. Fruit long, fusiform, but variable in shape and size, 

 often much contorted, greenish white. Seeds about | in. long and ^ in. wide, flat, oblong, with cor- 

 rugated margin, truncate or retuse at the apex, grey or yellowish brown. 



This plaot in all probability had its origin either in India or in the Indian Archi- 

 pelago. f It has never been found in a wild state, unless it be considered, as Mr. C. B. 

 Clarke has suggested^ to represent the cultivated state of TrichosantJies cucumerina. 

 Linn., a common plant extending throughout India to N. Australia. 



The following information has been recently contributed to the " Indian Forester " 

 by Mr. W. Gollan, Head Gardener at Saharanpur, who has specially studied this family 

 of plants under cultivation : — 



" The fruit of this vegetable is from 1 to 3 feet long, and of a very handsome appearance. When 

 " young they are beautifully striped with white and green, and when ripe change to a brilliant orange. The 

 "young fruit is used as a substitute for French beans. When cut up into thin strips and boiled, they form 

 " a fair imitation of that vegetable. Like the kali and ghia turai, the fruit must be used when very young. 

 " If cut when more than 4 inches long they often have a very bitter taste. Two sowings should be made, 

 " the first in April, and the second in May." 



The fruit is usually eaten cooked ; that of T. cucumerina is also eaten, but the 

 plant is not cultivated. 



This gourd seems to be generally grown throughout the plains as a rain crop. It 

 is impossible, however, to give any accurate figures as to the area occupied by it in these 

 Provinces. 



Erplanation of Plate XLVI. 



1. Male flower, vertical section, \ ^j. • I ^' Transverse section of ditto, (nat. size). 



2. Mature fruit, f ' ' ' i 



From a drawing of a living specimen cultivated at Saharanpur. 



* References :— Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 701 ; Royle 111. 219 ; W. & A. Prod. 350 ; Kurz. in Journ. As. Soc. Bcng. 

 (1877) Part ii. 98 ; Naudin in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. 4 Vol. 18 p. 190 ; Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 610 ; Atkinson Econom. Prod. 

 N.-W. P. Part V. p. 4 ; Gaz. N.-W. P. Vol. x. 700 ; Cogniaux iu DC. Mon. Plian. iii. 359 ; DC. L'Orig. PI. Cult. 217 ; Ind. 

 Forester Vol. ix. (1883) p. 201. 



t DC. L'Orig. PI. Cult. I.e. 



t Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. I.e. 



