•158 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



splashed with satiny- white ; when it arrives at maturity, and a few fruits 

 are hanging from the roof of the stove, the bright orange-red colour and 

 snake forms are highly decorative and picturesque. 



In India this Gourd is extensively used by the natives for culinary 

 purposes, curries, &c. 



Trichosanthes palmata^ said to be a common plant in India, has a 

 much larger flower, about four inches in diameter, with white fringe 

 hanging from the margin — a most exquisite flower. (Figure in "Bot. 

 Mag." vol. cxii., t. G873.) 



The bath-glove or dish-cloth Gourds (Luffa cegyptiaca) are very 

 interesting plants when hanging from a stove roof. The Gourds are at 

 first not unlike Cucumbers, with foliage of a more graceful habit. As the 

 Gourds come to maturity and ripen, the outer shell or rind breaks and can 

 be easily detached, showing the well-known "luffa," which is practically 

 the fibro-vascular skeleton of the fruit. 



These Cucurbits are very easy of cultivation, and a plant with several 

 fruits in various stages of development is a perpetual source of interest. 



Perhaps the most gorgeous-coloured tropical Cucurbit is the orange- 

 coloured Balsam Apple (Momordica Charantia), a native of India, Malaya, 

 and tropical Africa. The foliage is small and elegant. The plant can be 

 grown in the smallest house, where its graceful climbing stems and elegant 

 leaves constitute a most charming plant. It is, however, the fruits that 

 are so very striking, having the most vivid orange -coloured pericarp, which 

 dehisces by three valves, exposing large crimson claret-coloured seeds 

 hanging like pendants from the inner walls of the fruit. This plant can 

 be successfully grown in 10-inch pots, in which size they make very 

 decorative conservatory plants. 



Benincasa cerifera is a large Marrow-shaped Gourd of singular 

 appearance. It has somewhat larger foliage than the preceding Gourds, 

 and when convenient should be trained at the end of the house. In this 

 position the fruits can be better supported than when they hang suspended 

 from the roof. The Gourds are large oval-shaped fruits, not unlike a 

 well-formed Vegetable Marrow, but densely covered with a white waxy 

 secretion, and further adorned with spiny hairs. This Gourd forms 

 the principal ingredient in many of the Indian confections and sweet- 

 meats, whilst the young immature fruits are used in curries and pickles. 

 It is a widely distributed plant, and is said to have been cultivated for 

 such a long period that its true native habitat cannot be determined. It 

 is, however, noted in the " Flora of Cochin China," by M. Ed. Andre. 



There are several Cucurbits and Gourds that lend interest to the cool 

 greenhouse, when grown as roof plants ; indeed as shade plants some of 

 them are useful as well as ornamental. 



All the varieties of Lagcnaria vulgaris are useful in this direction. 

 Grown in large pots (10-inch) and runup the roof with a single stem with 

 one or two fruits (more of the small varieties) they present a very quaint 

 appearance ; the curious-shaped fruits hanging from various parts of the 

 house more than compensate for want of colour. 



Cyclanthera czplodcns is a small graceful Cucurbit that is easily 

 accommodated in the smallest house. The little fruits freely set and appear 

 in quick succession through the summer and autumn. They are small 



