230 
HINTS ON THE CULTURE OF TELFAIRIA PEDATA. 
This beautiful and extraordinary perennial plant is found in abundance at the 
margins of the forests near the shores of Zanzibar, where it envelops the trees 
with its branches, while its trunk is frequently seen with a circumference of eighteen 
inches ; when properly managed it is excellently adapted for training- over the 
back wall of a stove or other part that it may be desirable to hide in a short 
space of time, for it will grow in one season enormously, and cover an extent 
of surface almost incredible ; and when trained and dressed neatly it looks very 
ornamental. It should either be planted in a large tub, or border, or, if con- 
venient, a part of a pit might be partitioned off and filled with soil, either of which 
will suit it, but where the roots are not confined it will flourish best, as it is, like 
the rest of the family, a very gross feeder. It thrives exceedingly well with us in a 
mixture of sandy loam,, peat, and dung, the largest portion of the former ; but whe- 
ther this is most proper for causing- it to produce fruit is questionable, for it appears 
to us that stiff soil, such as is commonly in use for melons, will be more likely to 
hasten the production of fruit. It requires stove heat, and to be supplied with 
abundance of water, and the whole plant to be regularly and forcibly washed with 
water, or the acarus (red spider), thrips, &c, will materially injure the leaves, and 
render it in a great measure unsightly. 
The flowers are somewhat showy, being- of a purplish colour, and very much 
fringed at the margin of each petal, but the fruit is the most valuable and striking 
feature ; it has been thus described in the JBot. Mag. p. 2752. 
" The fruit constitutes an enormous berry, or pepo, from one and a half to 
three feet in length, and often eight inches across, oblong, always green, having 
from ten to twelve deep furrows, the prominences rounded, the bottoms of the 
furrows rough, with minute elevated points, as is the concave part where the stalk 
is inserted ; the apex is acute, or shortly acuminated, and near the base is a con- 
traction, so that the very base forms a dilated, furrowed apophysis. There are five 
cells, each cell filled with a dense fleshy pulp, in which the seeds are imbedded 
horizontally, in a longitudinal series. Each seed is the size of a very large kidney- 
bean, between orbicular and cordate, much compressed, even a little concave on 
one side, and firmly enclosed in a beautiful yellowish brown, but tough, and almost 
coriaceous, reticulated mass of vessels, quite distinct from the seed itself, whose 
integument is hard and thick, yellow-brown, on both sides marked near the margin 
with an elevated line, and in the disc, or centre, it is prettily embossed with many 
serpentine lines. Although the outside of this be brownish, the inside (or that 
next the almond) is a deep and almost bright yellow, and the intermediate part is 
a fine black. The whole internal cavity is occupied by the embryo, except a thin 
membranaceous, brownish covering, adhering to it, which perhaps may be consi- 
dered as albumen. Cotyledons two, of the same shape as the seed, pure white, 
fleshy, and rather oily. Radicle inferior, small, conical." 
