Flora Medica

CUCURBITACE^:.Stem angular, very long, running over the highest trees, covered withgray scabrous somewhat corky bark ; the young green parts smooth.Tendrils 3-cleft. Leaves petioled, generally palmate, though sometimesonly from 3- to 5-lobed ; divisions acute, slightly serrate, from 3-to 5-nerved, smooth, having frequently several round, glandular, hollowspots on the under side. Petioles channelled. Stipules single, small,axillary. Male flowers racemed, large, white, most beautifully fringedwith long, white, ramous filaments. Racemes axillary, longer than theleaves. Bracts solitary, 1-flowered, oval, fringed, covered on the outsidewith dark green glandular spots. Female flowers generallyaxillary, peduncled, though sometimes racemose also. Fruit globular,smooth, of the size of a small orange, when ripe of a bright deep red,replete with a dirty looking, dark greenish, soft pulp, in which theseeds nestle. Fruit reckoned poisonous. Roxb. Pounded small andintimately blended with warm cocoa nut oil, it is considered a valuableapplication in India for cleansing and healing the offensive sores thatsometimes form inside the ears. It is also supposed to be a usefulremedy poured up the nostrils, in cases of ozaena. Ainslie.184. T. amara Linn. sp. pi. 1432. DC. prodr.iii. 315.Plumier descr. pi. amer. t. 100. St. Domingo.Stem taper, smooth. Tendrils simple. Leaves cordate, somewhattriangular, sinuated, rough with dots, stalked. Female flowers solitary,with peduncles longer than the leaves. Calyx long, tubular, withlanceolate acute segments. Petals ovate, roundish, fringed. Fruitobovate-oblong, 9-celled, green, with longitudinal white lines; fleshwhite, bitter. Seeds bitter and astringent; sometimes emetic. Martius.185. T. villosa Blum bydr. 934. DC. prodr.iii. 314.Java.Leaves cordate, tricuspidate, obsoletely toothletted, villous. Peduncles1 -flowered. Gourds roundish, with white streaks. Fruit actslike Colocynth. N. and E.186. T. cordata Roxb.fi.ind. iii. 703. Boomee-Koomura ofthe Hindoos near the mouth of the river Megna, where the plantgrows wild.Root tuberous, perennial, growing to the size of a man's head.Stems herbaceous, climbing to the length of some fathoms, 5-sided,villous, or even somewhat scabrous when old. Tendrils opposite,3-cleft. Leaves alternate, petioled, cordate and cordate-lobate, finelydentate, villous on both sides, about 6 inches each way. Petioleschannelled, a little hairy, scarcely half the length of the leaves.Male raceme, axillary, solitary, as long , the leaves. Bracts alternate,sessile, cuneate, oblong, acute, serrulate, 1-flowered. Flowerslarge, white, the fringe of the segments coarser than in the other species.Female flowers axillary, solitary, short-peduncled. Gourd spherical,of the size of an orange, and of nearly the same colour, only redder,and, as in T. palmata, which it is much like, the cells and partitions arevery obscure. Seeds numerous, immersed in soft, gelatinous, greenpulp. Root used by the natives of India as a substitute for Calumbaroot.187. T. cucumerina Linn. sp. pi. 1432. Blum Bydr.934. Roxb.fi. ind. iii. 702. DC. prodr.iii. 315. Pada valamRheede. viii. t. 15 Hedges in Bengal.