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CUCURBITACEAE
IS. Melothria maderaspatana (Linn.)Cogn. in DC. Mon. Phan. 3: 623. 1881. (Fig. 173).
Cucumis maderaspatana Linn.—Kukia scabreUa Arn.—Mukia maderaspatana Kurz.—Bryonia
scabrelia Linn, f.--Bryonia cord'i/oiia Linn.—Bryonia wightiana Wall.—Bryonia maderaspatana
DC— Bryonia althacoides DC.—Karivia javana Miq.
Sinh. Hin-kekiri; Tarn. Mochumochukkai. Musimusikkayi. Musumusukkai; Hindi
Agumaki, Bilari; Sans. Ahilekhana.
Annual or perennial, tendril climber with long, slender, much branched, angular, very
hispid stems, young parts densely, covered with white hairs, tendrils simple;leaves simple, alternate,
variable in size, 7.5—10 cm long, but often 4.5—6 cm or even less long~and as broad, deltoidovate,
very deeply cordate at base with a wide sinus and the rounded lobes often overlapping,
acute or obtuse at apex, rather shallowly 5-lobed, coarsely dentate-serrate, usually scabrous with
stiff hairs on both sides; petioles half as long as leaves, cylindrical, very hispid; flowers yellow/,
regular, unisexual, monoecious, very small, about 5 mm diameter, male and female together
in axillary clusters, males on pilose pedicels as long as the calyx, females nearly sessile; sepals
5, fused into a campanulate hairy calyx, segments linear, hispid; petals 5, very slightly connate
at base, ovate or oblong, ciliate, a little longer than calyx segments; male flowers: stamens 3,
distinct, slightly connate by the anthers, anther cells straight, ovary vestigeal, globular at the
base of calyx-tube; female flowers: ovary inferior, 3.5 mm long, ovoid, very hispid, style thick,
surrounded at the base by an annular disc, placentas usually 2; fruit a scarlet berry, 1.2cm long,
broadly ovoid, apiculate with a few scattered hairs; seeds horizontal, closely packed, oval,
compressed, bluntly muriculate on the sides surrounded by a pulpy envelope.
Flowers alt the year round.
Illustrations. Wight, Ic. PL Ind. Orient, pi 501. 1840—1843; Kirtikar and Basu, Indian
Med. Plants, pi. 465. 1933: Herb. Peradeniya, drawing.
Distribution. Occurs throughout India, Ceylon, Malaya, Australia, Philippine Islands
and Africa. In Ceylon, it is common in the low-country up to 3000 feet altitude. Jaffna,
Anuradhapura, Kantalai, Kurunegala, Peradeniya, Galle, etc.
India. Sikkim: T. Thomson, 1857. Khasia: /. D. Hooker and T. Thomson. Cachar: Clarke
18525, Dec. 1872. Calcutta: Wallich 6708C. Malabar, Concan, etc.. Stocks, Law, etc. Ceylon.
Thwaites CP. 1616; Walker. North Central Prov., Puliyankulama, Alston 1252, March 1927.
Eastern Prov., Kantalai, Herb. Peradeniya, Aug. 1885. North Western Prov., Kurunegala,
Wetakeyapotha, Alston 1455, Jan. 1927. Uva Prov., Uma Oya. F W. de Silva, March 1930.
Uses. The leaves are used as an expectorant. The roots when masticated fresh relieves
toothache. Taken in the form of a decoction it relieves flatulence. The seeds are sudorific.
The crushed seeds are applied on strained backs.
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