Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 2.djvu/66

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ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY.


CONSPECTUS OR ABRIDGED CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA OF THE TRIBE CUCDRBITEÆ* OF SCHRADER.

§ 1. — Filaments 5, inserted on the throat of the corolla ; anthers distinct or 3-adelphous, anticous, straight ; fruit,——— baccate, Jew seeded.

1. CONTANDRA (Schrad.) Corolla 5-partite : connectiva conniving, oblong, conical : fruit beaked. South Africa.

2. Cyrtonema (Schrad.) Limb of corolla 5-partite : filaments 5, incurved, connectiva incrassated 3-adel- phous ; anthers fixed laterally under the apex. South Africa.

§ 2. — Filaments di or tri-adelphous, inserted on the tube of the corolla ; anthers lateral, straight, 2-3-adelphous.

3. SICYDIUM (Schlecht.) Corolla 5-petaled, petals undivided : filaments 3-adelphous, dilated and incurved at the apex ; anthers without a beak. Mexico.

4. BRYONOPSIS (Arn.) Corolla 5-partite, lobes obovate, entire, undulated : filaments 3-adelphous, inserted on the throat, straight ; anthers pointless : stigma fringed : berry few seeded. East Indies — Courtallum.

5. ACHMANDRA (Arn.) Lobes of the corolla undivided : filaments tri-adelphous very short ; anthers anticous, inserted along the margins of the connectivum, linear oblong ; connectivum prolonged into a short beak beyond the anther : fruit baccate (always ?) beaked. East Indies. Bryonia epigœa, rostrata, deltoidea, and an undescribed species from Malabar.

OBS. — Perhaps this and the two last genera might be joined to Melothria.

6. MELOTHRIA (Linn.) Lobes of the corolla undivided, denticulated: filaments 3-adelphous; connectivum pointless : fruit baccate, not beaked. America.

OBS. — Schrader notices an East Indian one, but that may perhaps be an Achmandra.

7. CERATOSANTHES (Schrad.) Lobes of the corolla linear bifid : filaments 3-adelphous. America.

8. ANGURIA (Linn.) Lobes of the corolla entire : stamens diadelphous : fruit somewhat 4 -angled. America.

§ 3. — Filaments S-adelphms inserted on the top of the tube, anthers all cohering by means of their connectiva, and applied at the back along the margins of the connectiva, sigmoid. (?) two-celled.

9. SCHIZOSTIGMA (Arn.) Style simple, stigma peltate, fleshy, cleft into 10-12 radiating linear lobes. Andes of Mendosa. (Cucurbita asperata. Gill.)

S 4._ Filaments distinct or tri-adelphous. inserted on the throat of the corolla, anthers 6 or 3-adelphous, gyrose, anticous.

10. SPHENANTHE (Schrad.) Mexico.

§ 5. — Filaments tri-adelphous, inserted at the base of the corolla, anthers lateral, straight, 3-adelphous.

11. PILOGYNE (Schrad ) Calyx campanulate; segments of the corolla patent, much longer than the calyx : anthers one-celled : styLe entire; stigma 1, pileate : fruit baccate, few seeded, obtuse. South Africa. [ East Indies — Bryonia Garcini ?]

12. ZEHNIRIA (Endl. ?) Lobes of the corolla quite entire : style trifid ; stigmas 3, flabelliform, quite entire : fruit baccate, few seeded, blunt. South Africa, East Indies and ? Norfolk Island. — Bryonia Mysorenses. B. Hookeriana.

Perbaps this is only a subgenus of Pilogyne.

13. KARIIA (Arn.) Calyx urccolate, corolla scarcely exserted, lobes minute, quite entire ; anthers 2-cell-ed; style entire; stigma pileate, 3-fid : fruit a peponida, many seeded, blunt or with a short thick beak. East Indies, Bryonia umbellata. B. amplexicaulis.

14. RHYNCHOCARPA (Schrad.) Lobes of the corolla denticulate, ciliated ; style trifid ; stigmas 3, jagged and toothed : fruit with a long slender beak. Guinea.

§ 6. — Filaments tri-adelphous, inserted at the base of the corolla, anthers all cohering, posticous, linear, straight.

15. MUKIA (Arn.) Style entire, stigmas 3, more or less cohering, erect. Anthers distinct, one-celled, lateral ; [connectivum prolonged, forming a projecting point: a globose abortive ovary in the bottom of the calyx.] East Indies — Bryonia scabrella. [B. leiosperma.]

§ 7. — Filaments 5, or tri-adelphous, inserted at the base of the corolla ; connectiva toothed or lobed, anthers applied at the back along the margins of the connectivum, and therefore flexuose, gyrose, or anfractuose.

16. BRYONIA (Linn.) Corolla 5-cleft : anthers triadelphous, one-celled : style trifid ; stigmas subreniform or bifid : fruit ovoid or globose, baccate ; few seeded. Europe and East Indies — B. laciniosa, India. B. alba. B. dioica, Europe. Perhaps also B. Garcini and leiosperma, but of these 1 have no male flowers by me to examine [B. Garcini. Stamens tri-adelphous one-celled : cells linear, marginal, not sigmoid, style one, stigma dilated, peltate : ovary few seeded ; pepo inverse reniform, 2 seeded. This is probably a new genus, but if not seems to belong to Pilogyne rather than any other here. It cannot possibly belong to Bryonia. ]

In the European plants, the type of the genus, there are two ovules in each of the 3 cells of the ovary — nearly all Blame's species belong to other genera.

17. CITRULLUS. (Schrad.) Corolla persistent, 5-parted, subrotate : anthers tri-adelphous, bilocular : style 3-fid; stigma obcordate, convex: fruit a fleshy or dry and fibrous, many-seeded peponida. Africa, East Indies. Cucurbita citrullus and Cucumis colorynthis.

18. ECBALIAM (Rich.) Corolla 5 cleft : anthers triadelphous: ovules in two rows in each cell; stigmas three, two horned : fruit an elastically and irregularly bursting peponida. Europe — Momordica elaterium.

19. MOMORDICA (Linn.) Petals 5, adnate to the base of the calyx, deciduous : anthers all cohering: ovules

  • This tribe contains all the East Indian genera except Zanonica — Schrader refers Erythropapum of Blume to Cucurbiteae but that genus is very closely allied to Mackaya (Arnott in Jardine's Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vol. 2), and does not belong to the order.