CITRULLUS VULGARIS, Sclirad. 



Var. FISTULOSUS.* 



[^j'c?e Plate XL VII.] 



English none ; Vernaculae, tendus (Bijnor), tendu and tensi (Doab), tinda (Punjab), 

 meiio, trindus, dilpasand, tinda and alvinda (Sindh). 



Natural order Cucurhitacerp, tribe Cucumerinece. Stems diffuse, stout, fistulous. Young 

 shoots densely villous with long soft spreading hairs intermixed with much glandular pubescence 

 which disappears with age ; tendrils 3-fid. Leaves green and shining above when young ; old 

 leaves scabrous ; under surface paler, densely hairy on the nerves ; petioles furrowed, fistulous ; 

 blade ovate cordate, 5-nerved, 5-lobed, sinuses extending to one-third or one-half towards the centre 

 of the blade. Flowers monoecious, solitary. Male : — peduncle shorter than the petiole ; calyx villous, 

 the tube spread out nearly flat and crowned abruptly by the five short teeth ; corolla flat, hairy 

 outside ; stamens as in C. vulgaris ; disc filling up the base of the calyx between the stamens. 

 Female : — flower on a thick peduncle which lengthens and curves downwards in fruit; calyx quite 

 flat ; corolla as in male ; disc collar-shaped round the style ; ovary sub-globose, softly villous ; style 

 very short, individed or rarely shortly 3-cleft at the apex ; stigmas thick forming together a 

 round head. Fruit about the size of a small turnip, of a light apple green colour, depressed at 

 each end, hispid when young, at length becoming quite smooth. Seeds black, about | in. long, 

 marked on both sides by an elevated ridge which follows the outline of the seed. 



Dr. Stocks, from whose paper in Hooker's Journal of Botany much of the above 

 description has been taken, further adds : — 



"As a species this is recognized at once from its congeners, the colocynth and the water-melon 

 " (C. Colocynthis and vulgaris), which are the only others I have to compare, by its much less divided 5- 

 " nerved and 5-lobed leaves, not glaucous as in the water-melon, or hoary as in the colocynth. Both these 

 " last have 3-nerved, 3-lobed leaves, cleft almost to the midrib, with the divisions also deeply lobulated. The 

 "tendrils in the colocynth are generally undivided or rarely bifid ; in the water-melon they are bifid, but here 

 "they are generally 3-4 rarely 5-cleft. The fistulous stem and petioles are an absolute distinction. The 

 " calyx is here much more flat than in the other two, where it is campanuiate at the base. The very short 

 " style, the almost globose ovary, the depressed fruit of uniform colour, not striped or speckled in any stage 

 " of its growth, are farther marks of distinction. The seeds differ from the smooth thin seeds of the colo- 

 "cynth, and resemble more those of the ivater-melon. Finally, the poisonous colocynth and the eatable 

 " water-melon have associated with them here a cookable vegetable. 



" In Sindh it is cultivated from April to September, generally in the same plot of ground with common 

 "melons, Luffa, gourds and cucumbers. The fruit is picked when about two-thirds grown, the size and shape 

 "of a common field-turnip, two inches-and-a-half high, and three inches-and-a-half across. It is pared, cut 

 "in quarters, the seeds extracted, well boiled in water, and finally boiled in a little milk, with salt, black- 

 " pepper, and nutmeg. Mussalmans generally cut it into dice, and cook it together with meat in stews or 

 "curries. Hindus fry it in ghi with split gram-peas (Cicer arietinum), and a curry powder of black-pepper, 

 "cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, dried cocoanut, turmeric, salt, and last (but not least in their opinion) the 

 "never failing asafcetida. It is sometimes made into a preserve in the usual manner. It is sometimes 

 " picked when small, cooked without scraping out the seeds, and regarded a greater delicacy than when more 

 " advanced." 



* References -.-C. fistuhsus, stocks in flook. Journ. Vol. iii. p. 74. t. 3 ; Walp. Ann. Bot. Syst. iv. 863. C. vulga- 

 is, Schrad. in DC Monogr. Than. iii. 509 ; Clarke in Hook. FI. Brit. lad. ii. 621. 



