692 
LVII. CUCURBITACE,®. 
[ Trichnsanthes . 
rudiments. Fruit succulent, often large, with a hard rind. Seeds smooth or 
with undulate or crenate margins. — Climbing annuals or perennials. Tendrils 
2 or 3-branched. Flowers white, large or small, the males in pedunculate 
racemes, the females solitary. 
The genus is dispersed over tropical Asia and America. Of the 4 Australian species, 2 are 
common Asiatic ones, the other 2 are endemic, but as yet insufficiently known. — Benth. 
Leaves palmately or pedately divided into petiolate segments 1. T. pentaphylla. 
Leaves palmately lobed. 
Male racemes without bracts. Fruits acuminate 2. T. cucurnerina. 
Male racemes with large broad leafy bracts. Fruits not acuminate ... 3. T. pahnata. 
Leaves ovate-cordate, not lobed, softly villous. Male racemes with small 
oblong or lanceolate bracts 4. T. Hearnii. 
1. T. pentaphylla (leaflets 5), F. v. M. Herb.; Benth. FI. Austr. iii. 314 ; 
Apparently a large climber, the specimens quite glabrous. Leaves palmately or 
pedately divided into 5 ovate or ovate-lanceolate acuminate entire segments, about 
3 to &in. long, all petiolulate or the lateral ones rarely united at the base. 
Tendrils 3-branched. Male flowers unknown. Females solitary, shortly 
pedicellate. Calyx-tube cylindrical, rather thick, broad and obtuse at the base, 
produced far above the ovary, rather more than lin. long; lobes broadly lanceo- 
late, acuminate, 3 to 4 lines long, entire or with 1 or 2 teeth. Corolla-lobes 
fringed. Fruit as round as a ball, beautifully red, the flesh deep yellow, the pulp 
dark green ( Dallachy ). Seeds compressed, thick, oblong, the margin entire. 
Hab.: Brisbane River ; Burdekin River, F. v. Mueller ; Rockingham Bay. Dallachy. 
The specimens do not admit of the further examination of the flowers, of which there is only 
one ready to open. The foliage is that of a Telfairia, to which it may possibly have to be trans- 
ferred notwithstanding the narrower seeds, unless the two genera be combined into one. — Benth. 
2. T. cucurnerina (fruit like a Cucumber), Linn. Spec. PI. 1432 ; Benth. FI. 
Austr. iii. 314. Stems slender, although sometimes extending to a great length. 
Leaves nearly orbicular or reniform in their outline, broadly cordate at the base, 
mostly 3 to 4in. diameter, palmately 3 to 7-lobed, the lobes broad, rarely reaching 
to the middle and irregularly toothed, more or less scabrous- pubescent. Tendrils 
3-branched. Male flowers in a short raceme at the end of a long slender peduncle, 
without bracts. Calyx-tube in the young bud short, broad and rounded at the 
base ; teeth very short and recurved. Corolla-lobes narrow-oblong, 4in. long, 
besides the fringe of long cilia. Female flowers shortly pedicellate. Calyx-tube 
attenuate above the ovary into a long slender neck. Fruit ovoid-conical, 
acuminate, not exceeding 2in., orange-red or yellow when ripe. Seeds about 8 or 
10, thick but flattened, with the margin more or less crenate. — Naud. in Ann. Sc. 
Nat. ser. 4 xviii. 191. 
Hab.: Given as a Queensland plant by F. v. Mueller , but without locality. 
Common in hedges, <tc., in East India. 
3. T. palmata (leaves palmate), Roxb. FI. Inil. iii. 704 ; Benth. VI, Austr. 
iii. 315. A coarse climber. Leaves broad, palmately 3 to 7-lobed, the lobes 
sometimes broad and short, more frequently especially the central one reaching 
to below the middle and more or less sinuate-toothed or lobed, pubescent. Male 
racemes on long stout peduncles, at first short and head-like, at length elongated, 
with a broadly cuneate or orbicular toothed or jagged bract at least lin. diameter 
under each pedicel. Pedicels very short. Calyx-tube above lin. long, attenuate 
below the middle ; lobes ovate or lanceolate, acuminate, 3 to 4 lines long. Petals 
obovate, fringed with very long cilia. Female flowers shortly pedicellate. Calyx- 
tube abruptly contracted above the ovary. Fruit nearly globular, not acuminate, 
2 to 3in. diameter. — Wight and Arn. Prod. 350, with the synonyms adduced ; 
Wight, Illustr. t. 104, 105 ; T. subvelutina, F. v. M. (Alfred Cogniaux). 
Hab.: Brisbane River. IF. Hill ; Rockingham Bay, Dallachy (with larger less-lobed leaves). 
The species is common in forests in India, where it climbs to the tops of the loftiest 
trees. — Roxburgh- 
