Befiigium Botanicum.] 
TAB. 223. 
[September, 1870. 
Natural Order Cucurbitace^. 
Tribe CucuMERiNEiE. 
Genus Momoedica, Linn. 
M. INVOLUCRATA [E. Meyer, in Herb. Brege). Caulibus gracilibus glabris, 
foliis glabris petiolatis utrinque viridibus deltoid eo-cordatis ad me- 
dium palmatim 5-lobatis lobis repando-dentatis dentibus aristatis, 
pedunculis unifloris, bracteolis solitariis magnis reniformibus integris 
calyce involucrantibus, calycis segmentis rotuiidatis obtusis, petalis 
obovato-spathulatis calyce duplo longioribus, fructibus ovoideis 
inconspicue tuberculatis, irregulariter et lateraliter ruptis, semi- 
nibus arillo rubro instructis. — Sonder, Fl. Cap. ii. 491. 
A native of Natal, gathered by nearly all the botanists who 
have collected in the colony. 
Stems herbaceous, slender, wide-twining, angular, glabrous, 
the developed internodes twelve to eighteenrlines long. Tendrils 
copious, firm, slender, many times spirally twisted. Petioles 
glabrous, of the lower leaves above an inch long. Leaves 
herbaceous in texture, green and glabrous on both sides, cordate - 
deltoid, an inch to three inches long, palmately five-lobed, the 
upper two divisions reaching half-way down to the apex of the 
petiole, the lobes repando-dentate, each tooth with a conspicuous 
soft mucro. Floivers solitary, on slender flexuose axillary 
peduncles an inch to three inches long, with a large foliaceous 
entire reniform hracteole at the apex clasping the calyx like an 
involucre. Calyx four to five lines deep, the round blunt lobes 
reaching about half-way down. Petals eight to nine lines deep, 
ob ovate -spathulate, cream-coloured with a dark spot at the base. 
Stamens three, the filaments free, the anthers connate. Fruit 
ovoid, slightly tubercled, bursting irregularly and laterally, the 
seeds furnished with a red arillus. 
Tab. 223. — 1, flower, with calyx and corolla stripped away, magnified. 
—J. G. B. 
For the opportunity of figuring this plant I am indebted to 
Mr. Thos. Cooper, of the Holmsdale Eoad, Eeigate, who has 
under cultivation many interesting South-African plants. — 
W. W. S. 
