XLI. CU CURBIT ACEAS 
201 
two or more forms, with intermediate forms, being sometimes 
borne on one plant. Tendrils usually branched, sometimes flower- 
bearing. Flowers pale yellow or white, J in. diam. or less, male 
and female on the same or on different plants. Male flowers 
umbellate ; calyx glabrous or pubescent, bell-shaped, toothed ; 
corolla hairy within ; filaments rather long. Female flowers soli- 
tary or in pairs ; calyx and corolla nearly as in the male ; ovary 
glabrous, pubescent or tomentose, narrowly oblong ; style 3-lobed 
at the top ; ovules numerous. Fruit glabrous, pubescent or 
tomentose, berry -like, ovoid, J-1J in. long, bright red, inde- 
hiscent ; seeds 6-12, smooth. (Fig. 60.) 
Simla, Mushobra, common ; July, August. — -Throughout India, ascending to 
7000 ft. — Asia, N. Australia. 
The form having tomentose ovary and fruit is distinguished as var. nepa- 
lensis in the FI. Br. Ind. 
XLII. BEGONIACE^E 
A large Order chiefly inhabiting moist tropical regions and con- 
sisting almost entirely of species belonging to the genus Begonia. 
Abundant in the hot damp valleys of Burmah and the E. Hima- 
laya ; only two species extending their range to the N. West. 
BEGONIA. In honour of Michel Begon, French Governor of 
San Domingo and a patron of botany in the seventeenth century. 
— Nearly all tropical regions in moist shady places ; apparently 
absent from Australia. 
Succulent herbs ; rootstock tuberous ; stems slender, weak, 
nearly erect. Leaves mostly radical (those on the stem alter- 
nate), long-stalked, undivided, more or less unequally sided, irre- 
gularly sinuate and toothed ; stipules free, ovate, soon falling 
off. Flowers pale pink, 1 -sexual, male and female on the same 
plant, in axillary, stalked, bracteate cymes. Sepals 3-5, in two 
series, free, unequal, imbricate, coloured. Petals none. Male 
flowers : sepals 4, the two outer larger ; stamens numerous, nearly 
free, inserted with the sepals on the receptacle, anthers 2-celled. 
Female flowers : sepals 3 or 5, the two outer larger ; ovary 
inferior, 3-celled, 3-angled ; style-branches 3, each ending in 2 
spirally rolled stigmas ; ovules numerous, inserted on axile 
placentas. Capsule 3-sided, the angles produced in thin, flat 
wings, opening by 3 valves ; seeds numerous, minute. 
Leaves roughly hairy on the upper surface, pubescent on the 
lower. Wings of capsule very unequal . . . 1 . B. picta. 
Leaves glabrous on both surfaces. Wings of capsule nearly 
equal . . . . . . . . . 2. B. amcena. 
