Bmincnm.] 
LVII. CUCURBITACEiE. 
095 
apex. Tendrils 2-branched. Peduncles solitary, 1-flowered, 1 to Sin. long. 
Calyx-lobes about 4 lines long, linear-lanceolate. Corolla yellow, the lower 
portion for about lin. tubular. Stamens 3 ; filaments glabrous connate below. 
Anthers free, lobes twisted, connective dilated. Staminodia 3, in the female 
flowers orbicular-ovate, plane, 14 line long, glabrous. Style cylindric glabrous, 
14- line long. Stigma 3-lobed. Fruit large as an orange, yellowish green, at 
first pilose, the pith whitish and slightly bitter. Seeds dark, ovate, attenuated at 
the base, about 4 lines long. 
Hab.: Many localities in the tropics. 
Cogniaux l.c. places this and B. cerifera as forms only of B. idspida, the Cuciirbita lrispida, 
Thunb. 
5. MOMORDICA, Linn. 
(Named from the bitten appearance of the edge of the seed.) 
Calyx in the males and free part of 'it in the females short, campanulate, with 
5 lobes. Corolla rotate or broadly campanulate, usually divided to the calyx into 
5 lobes. Stamens in the males 2 or 3 ; filaments short, free ; anthers at first 
coherent, at length free, one or two 2-celled, the others 4-celled, the Gells flexuose, 
the connective without any appendage. Two (or three ?) eonnivent scales on the 
tube of the calyx and corolla at the insertion of the stamens. Ovary in the 
females fusiform or oblong, with 3 placentas and several horizontal ovules ; style 
slender, with 3 stigmas. Fruit oblong, fusiform or cylindric, not fibrous, inde- 
hiscent or opening more or less in 3 valves. Seeds imbedded in pulp, flattened 
or convex, smooth or variously sculptured. — Climbers, usually slender. Leaves 
entire, lobed or 3 to 7-foliolate. Tendrils simple. Peduncles axillary, either all 
1-flowered, with a broad bract under the flower, or the males paniculate. 
The genus is dispersed over the tropical and subtropical regions of both the New and the Old 
World; most of the species, however, are African. The two following ones are common in Asia 
and Africa. 
Leaves simple, entire, lobed or angled. Stamens 3. Male flowers solitary, 
bracteate. Bracts conspicuous. 
Bracts near apex of peduncle. Calyx-lobes acuminate 1. M. BaUamina. 
Bracts below or near middle of peduncle 2. .1/. Charantia. 
1. IVI. Balsamina (balsam-bearing), [jinn.: Ser. in DC. Prod. iii. 311 ; 
Benth. b'l. Austr. iii. 318. A monoecious slender annual climber. Leaves thin 
and glabrous, orbicular in their circumscription, mostly under 2in. diameter, 
palmately and deeply 5 -lobed, the lobes more or less rhomboidal, deeply and 
acutely toothed or lobed. Peduncles all slender and 1-flowered, the males usually 
longer than the leaf, with a reniform or broadly cordate bract a little below the 
flower, the females shorter, with the bract below the middle. Calyx fully £in. 
diameter, with very thin broad acute lobes longer than the tube. Corolla yellow, 
nearly twice as long as the calyx. Female flowers rather smaller. Ovary 
fusiform, attenuate under the free part of the calyx. Fruit ovoid-globular, more 
or less attenuate at the end, about lin. diameter, bursting irregularly. Seeds 5 
or 6, rather large, each one enveloped in a red pulp. 
Hab.: Widely spread over Asia and Africa, and now introduced into America. Naturalised in 
Queensland. 
2. 1VI. Charantia (Charantia), Linn, in Oliver Trap. PI. Afri. ii. 
537. Monoecious; glabrous or pubescent- pilose. Stem very slender. Leaves 
1 to 4in. in diameter, membranous, reniform-orbicular, pedately 5 to 7-lobed to 
near the base, basal sinus broad, lobes oblong-lanceolate or rhomboid, often much 
contracted at the base, obtusely sinuate or lobulate. Tendrils simple. Male 
peduncle 1 to 5in. long, very slender. Bract about the middle reniform or 
orbicular-cordate, green, quite entire. Calyx-lobes ovate, acute. Corolla irregu- 
lar, 4- to 14-in. in diameter, yellow. Anthers flexuose, connective narrow. 
Part II. BI5 
