Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 77 CucuRBmCEAE 75
Lugenaria siceraria (Molina) Standley , the sweet calabash
or bottle gourd, was found grown as a vegetable at Bornes
(DHN!). It is easily recognized by a pair of glands at the apex
of the petiole. It has pubescent leaves, branched tendrils, white
flowers, and a long, purple fruit.
Luffa aegyptiaca Miller (see Heiser and Schilling (1988) for
generic treatment, see Nicolson et al. (1988:97), for nomenclature),
the vegetable sponge or torchon, has been seen in
cultivation at Salisbury (DHN!) and on a dump at Portsmouth
(Whitefoord 5294). The leaves are palmately lobed, the flowers
are yellow (males racemose with 5 stamens, female solitary)
and the dried fruit opens at the top, revealing the “sponge.”
Sechium edule (Jacquin) Swartz, the christophine or chayote,
is cultivated at Milton (Hodge 2884) and may be escaping near
Syndicate (Whitefoord 3955). The flowers are white, the leaves
are shallowly but sharply lobed, and the tendrils are 3-
branched. The fruit is as large as an avocado or mango with a
single, large, flat seed and the flesh makes a delicious
vegetable.
1. Leaves deeply 3-7-lobed (see also cult. Lfla).
2. Plant parts (especially when young) woolly; tendrils
bifid; leaves deeply trifid with segments pinnatifid to
bipinnatifid; fruit green, smooth, sweet . . . Citrullus
2. Plant parts glabrous; tendrils unbranched, leaves pedately
5-7-lobate; fruit becoming orange, warty, bitter
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Momordica
1. Leaves entire to shallowly lobed.
3. Lower leaf blade and upper petiole with glands or
glandular pockets; tendrils 2-3-branched; anthers S-
shaped; ovules & seeds vertical . . . . . . Cayaponia
3. Leaves glandless; tendrils simple; anther locules
straight; ovules and seeds horizontal . . . . Melothria
Cayaponia Silva Manso, nom. cons.
Cayaponia americana
Cayaponia americana (Lamarck) Cogniaux in A.L. & A.C. Candolle, 1881,
3:785.-Jeffrey, 1971224.
Bryonia americana Lamarck. 1785, 1:458.
Cionandra curpidata Grisebach, 1860:287.
Leaves -10-15 cm long, 8-10 cm wide, acutely 3-lobed (in
ours), with glands at base of blade; inflorescences racemose;
calyx lobes 1-4 mm long; corolla greenish white, lobes 5-8
mm long, almost as broad as long in staminate flowers, much
longer than broad in pistillate flowers; seeds very few (1-3).
Antilles; in Dominica locally abundant in openings, 550-
700 m: Freshwater Lake area (Ernst 1719, 2171, Nicolson
4147, Webster 13248), Pointe Michel (Eggers 1045), Portsmouth
(Wasshausen & Ayensu 374).
Elsewhere this may have deeply lobed and more scabrous
leaves.
Citrullus Schrader, nom. cons.
Citrullus lanatus
Citrullus la~rus (Thunberg) Matsumura & Nakai in Ancnymous, 1920:38.-
Ham, 1969:347.
Momordica I ~MIC~ Thunberg, 1794, Prodr., 13.
Citrdlus vulgaris Schrader in Ecklon & Zeyher, 1836:279.-hrader,
1838:412.
Watermelon.
Young growth woolly; leaf blade >10 cm long, deeply lobed,
scabrous; flower yellow.
African but now widely cultivated for fruit; in Dominica a
prostrate roadside weed: Cabrits (Whitefoord 4043, near
Coulibistri (Emst 1633), probably escaped from cultivation.
Jeffrey (1980:791) said this binomial was published in 1916
but Hara (1969:346) said the basionym was not indicated.
Melothria Linnaeus
Melothria pendula
Melorhria pendula Linnaeus, 1753:35.-Wunderlin, 1978:333.
Bryonia guadalupensis Sprengel, 1826,3:15.
Melorhria pervaga Grisebach, 1860:289.
Melorhria guadalupensis (Sprengel) Cogniaux in A.L. & A.C. Candolle. 1881,
3580.
Leaves entire to shallowly lobed, -5 cm x 5 cm; flowers
minute, yellow.
Antillean but reported in Mexico and Guyana; in Dominica
a common weed in disturbed areas: Clarke Hall (Ernst 1260,
Stern & Wasshausen 2403), Hatton Garden (Hodge 3044),
above Roseau (Whitefoord 4645).
Jeffrey (1978:373) cited Imray 36 from Dominica as M.
pendula.
Momordica Linnaeus
Momordica charantia
Momordica chrantia Linnaeus, 1753: 1009.-Cogniaux & Harms in Engler.
1924. IV.275 (Heft 88):24.
Pomme coolie, pavecka, wild balsam apple.
Leaves deeply and pedately 5-7-lobed, -5 cm x 5 cm;
peduncle of staminate flower 5-6 cm long, with orbicular bract
just below center; fruit warty, becoming orange and splitting to
reveal horizontal seeds covered with red pulp.
Originally Old World, now pantropical; in Dominica a
common weed: Clarke Hall (Chambers 2703, Ernst 1259, Stern
& Wasshausen 2405), Delices (Whitefoord 3667), Goodwill
(Wilbur 7573), Salybia (Hodge 471, 3217, Nicolson 2011).
Flowering in July.
Seeds sucked by children (Hodge and Taylor, 1957:613).
Adjanohoun et al. (198595, pl. 62) reported several medicinal
uses.