694 
LVII. CUCURBITACEiE. 
[hujfa. 
1. X.. aegyptiaca (Egyptian), Mill. Diet.; Ser. in DC. Prod. iii. 303 ; Benth. 
FI. Austr. iii. 316. Towel Gourd. A large climber. Leaves large, broad, the 
lower ones 5-angled, the upper ones more or less deeply 5-lobed, the lobes, at 
least the central one, usually acute, often above 6in. diameter, more or less 
scabrous. Tendrils 3-branched. Male racemes elongated, on long peduncles, 
without bracts. Pedicels short. Calyx broadly turbinate, about £in. diameter. 
Corolla more than lin. diameter. Fruit oblong, from 2 or 3 to 8 or lOin. long, 
smooth, with 10 deeper coloured streaks when fresh, which in the dry state are 
often slightly raised ribs, but not acutely prominent as in L. acutangula . — 
L. pentandra, Roxb. FI. Ind. iii. 712; Wight, Ic. t. 499; L. ci/lindriea, Room.; 
Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4 xii. 119, with the long list of synonyms adduced; 
L. leiocarpa, F. v. M. Fragm. iii. 107. 
Hab. Gilbert and Burdekin rivers, F. v. Mueller; Fitzroy River, Thozet ; Edgecombe Bay, 
Dallachy. 
The species is widely spread over tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia. Naudin distin- 
guishes the Australian plant as a variety, which F. v. Mueller raises to a species on account of 
the fruit said to be not larger than a fowl’s egg without longitudinal lines. But in the specimens 
sent hy F. v. Mueller from the Gilbert River the fruits are quite as large and the slightly raised 
lines quite as conspicuous as in several of the Indian ones .— Benth. 
Var. peramara , Bail. Plant of climbing habit, rambling over shrubs and small trees to the 
height of about 20ft. Stems 5-angular, smooth, the young growth hoary or silvery. Leaves 4 
to Sin. diameter, more or less deeply 5-lobed, the lobes more or less toothed or lobed, the central 
lobe often much longer than the others and always acute, the lower lobes often rounded, 
scabrous, especially on the upper surface ; petioles angular, nearly of equal length with the 
lamina. Tendrils 2 or 3-branched or at times simple. Male flowers in short racemes on long 
peduncles, with a sessile, glabrous, thick, prominently tubercled, cordate bract at the base, and 
similar bracteoles under each flower. Calyx-tube turbinate, 10-nerved ; lobes longer than the 
tube, acuminate, 3 or 4 lines long. Corolla about 2in. diameter, yellow, divided into 5 obovate 
deeply divided lobes or petals, much bearded at the base. Stamens 5, in some flowers all free, 
in others 2 connate pairs and the other free. Female flowers solitary, pedunculate, in the same 
axils as the male, without bract or bracteole ; calyx-lobes tuberculate like the bracts, corolla as 
in the males. Fruit ovate-oblong, about 3in. long, 10-nerved, smooth, grayish or light-brown, 
internal fibres black and very bitter. Seeds oval, very dark brown with irregular jet-black spots, 
otherwise smooth, 4 lines long excluding the narrow wing by which it is surrounded. Hab.: 
Mulgrave River, Bellenden Ker Exped. 1889. — Dr. Thos. L. Bancroft says of the fruit of this 
plant: “Upon tasting it there is experienced an intensely bitter sensation, which in a few 
minutes disappears but leaves a distressing acridity in the throat, which is not at its worst until 
several hours afterwards. An extract is very poisonous and contains two principles, a bitter 
substance and a saponin. ” Paper to Linn. Soc. of N.S.W., Nov., 1889. — In. Fragm. iii. 107 
Barron Mueller describes this Luffa under Naudin’s name of L. leiocarpa, but in his later works 
follows the FI. Austr. and places it as L. eegyptiaca, of which I consider the Australian plant had 
better be known as a distinct form, as above given. 
4. BENINCASA, Savi. 
(After Count Benincasa.) 
Monoecious. Flowers all solitary. Male : Calyx-tube campanulate ; lobes 5, 
leafy, serrate. Corolla rotate, 5-partite ; lobes obovate. Filaments free, inserted 
at the mouth of the calyx, short, flat, thick ; anthers exserted, one 1-celled, two 
2-celled ; cells very flexuous, bordering the thick connective. Rudiment of ovary 
a glandule. Female flower : Staminodes 3. Ovary ovoid ; style stout, inserted in 
a disk ; stigmas 3, wavy ; ovules very numerous on 3 placentas. Fruit an ovoid 
or cylindric, thick, terete, soft, glaucous, hispid berry. Seeds numerous, ovoid- 
oblong, flat, margins thickened. Hairy annuals. Leaves orbicular-reniform, 
palmately 5-lobed ; petiole eglandular. Tendrils 2 to 3-fid. Flowers large, 
yellow. Fruit large, waxy externally.- — Hooker in Oliver’s FI. Trop. Africa ii. 532. 
The description referring particularly to the then known species, B. cerifera, Savi. 
1. B. vacua (fruit hollow), F. r. M. Fragm. vi. 186, under Cucurbita. A 
climbing or creeping plant with angular stems. The young parts more or less 
covered with septate hairs. Leaves cordate, 5 or 3-lobed, 2 to Sin. long and 
broad, denticulate ; on petioles of about the same length, not glandulous at the 
