LUFFA ^GYPTIACA, Mill' 



IVide Plate LXIII]. 



English, none ; Vernaculae, taroi, ghiya taroi, turai, dhandhal (Kumaun). 



Description. 



Origin. 

 Uses, &c. 



Cultivation. 

 Distribution and Area. 



Natural order Cucurhitacea, tribe CucumerinecB. Annual, "whole plant more or less scabrous. 

 Stems extensively climbing or trailing, 5-angled ; tendrils 2-3-fid. Leaves orbicular reniform, 

 6-7 in. across, palmately lobed or 5-angled ; lobes triangular or lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 

 sinuate dentate, bright green, hispid on both sides ; petioles 2-3 in., striated, channelled. 

 Flowers rather large, yellow, monoecious ; male and female from the same axil. Male flowers in 

 panicles, peduncles long, bracteate at the base, pedicels bracteolate ; calyx tube broadly campanu- 

 late, segments 5, lanceolate ; petals 5, oblong with cuneate base ; stamens 5. Female flowers 

 solitary,! peduncle 2-3 in. or more ; calyx tube produced beyond the ovary, lobes and corolla 

 as in the male flower ; ovary cylindrical, smooth. Fruit 1-3 ft., cylindrical or fusiform, occa- 

 sionally subtrigonous, with 10 dark "green lines which are sometimes elevated into ribs. Seeds 

 black, about \ in. long and f-in. broad, oval, compressed, smooth, margins narrowly winged. 



This plant is a true native of India; J it is cultivated or naturalized in most hot 

 countries of the world. 



This vegetable is used in a similar manner to that of the kali taroi. It is much 

 grown in the plains as a rainy season vegetable, and may often be seen trailing over 

 bushes or the roofs of native huts. 



Its cultivation resembles that of the preceding. 



The area it occupied in certain of the N.-W. Provinces temporarily settled districts 

 during the rains of 1881 was returned as follows : — 



District. Acres. 



Allahabad, ... ... ... ... ... ... 256 



Meerut, ... ... ... ... ... ... 199 



Budaon, ... ... ... ... ... ... 104 



Cawnpore, ... ... ... ... ... .. 65 



Bijnor, ... ... ... ... ... ... 51 



Pilibhit, ... ... ... ... ... ... 45 



Bulandshahr, ... ... ... ... ... 43 



Muttra, ... ... ... ... ... ... 37 



Jalaun, ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 



1. P.ipe fruit (reduced to 



2. Female flower. 



Explanation of Plate LXITI. 



3. Male flower. 



4. Transverse section of fruit. 



From a drawing of a living specimen cultivated at Saharanpur. 



'References :— Hook. Fl. Hrit. Ind. ii. G14; Atkinson Econom. Prod. N.-W. P. Part v. p. 6, Gaz. N.-W. P. Vol. x. 

 700. L. pentaiulrn, Uoxb. Ilort. Beng. 70 ; Fl. Ind. iii. 712 ; VV. & A. Prod. 3t3 ; Wight Ic. 499 ; 111. 105. bis. L. racemosa 

 Roxb. I.e. 715. L. clavata, Roxb. I.e. 714. L. cylindrica, Iloem. ; Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. Bcng. (1877) p. 100 ; Cogniaux 

 in DC. Mon. Phan. iii. 456 ; DC. L'Orig. PI. Cult. 214 ; Ind. Forester Vol. ix. (1883) p. 201. 



•f Roxburj^h (I.e.) says that the lowermost flower of the male panicle is often female. 



t DC. L'Orig. PI. Cult. 215. 



