MrSCELLANEOUS 
49 
an ingredient of the medicinal preparation — con- 
fection of senna. 
Posncfatta* p. 41. 
Sweet eup. 
Passiflora maliformis. Order Passifloraceae' 
Native of the West Indies and tropical America’ 
common in our hills. A climber : 1 aves ovate ; 
flowers, variegated, purplish, “ the beautiful cor- 
onet of coloured rays gives to these lustrous flowers 
the look of blended starfish and sea anemones ; ” 
fruit, edible, small, round (a little over 1 in. in 
diameter), with very hard shell, green, with yellow- 
ish tint, turning light brown when dry. 
Calabash Water Gourds, 
The Water Gourds (PI. III. 23) offered for 
sale are large calabashes (p. 55) with a small 
hole at the top ; they are enclosed, as a rule, 
in a rough net-work made of the roots of the 
hook wythe (p. 16.) These gourds are in very 
common use among our labourers in the coun- 
try for taking with them their day’s supply of 
water when going to work. Anyone driving 
through a country district will be sure to see 
our peasantry carrying these gourds. 
It is a common practice among our people 
to drive one or more large nails into the 
bough on which a selected calabash grows in 
the belief that this will prevent its falling off 
before reaching maturity. This practice is re- 
garded as the result of a foolish superstition 
by many, but, as it is certain that trees may 
be induced to bear more heavily if their 
vegetative growth is checked, it may possibly 
be attended by a certain amount of success. 
