Herbaceous climber; tendrils simple. Leaves palmately 5-lobed, apiculate. Flowers yellow, 1½ to 2 in. across; male flower: stamens 3, monadelphous. Fruit ovoid, mottled green when young, scarlet when ripe, size of a large egg. Blue Nile Prov.; Upper White Nile Prov. (Melut); Bahr El Ghazal Prov. (Niamniam-land: by the Yabo River). 160 =Lagenaria vulgaris= _Seringe._ Musk-scented climbing herbs; tendrils forked. Leaves orbicular-cordate, more or less 3-7 lobed, toothed, 1-6 in. broad. Male flower solitary 2-5 in. diameter, white; filaments 3, free; anthers flexuous, cohering. Female flower smaller. Fruit woody. Red Sea Prov. (21° N. Lat.); Between Berber & Khartoum. 161 =Luffa cylindrica= _Linn._ LUFA—Arab. Semi-woody climber; tendrils forked. Leaves palmately 5-7 lobed, denticulate. Flowers yellow, about 2 in. across. Anthers in male flower much twisted and divided; filaments dilated at the base. Fruit mottled green when young, brown when ripe, with a dehiscing cap. Khartoum Prov. (Cultivated); White Nile Prov. (12° N. Lat.); Bahr El Ghazal Prov. (Jur Ghattas); Bahr El Jebel (wild). Fruit called LIF in Arabic, when wild about 6 in. long; when cultivated up to 18 in. long. The fibrous, spongy substance which fills the fruit is used as a substitute for a sponge or brush, also for inside soles of shoes and the manufacture of sun helmets. The pulp is edible; an oil is obtained from the seeds, which are also emetic and cathartic. =L. echinata= _Roxb._ WASSI, ARSH & UMSHWEIKA (White Nile)—Arab. Herbaceous climber; tendrils forked. Leaves orbicular-reniform, 2-4 in. broad, scabrid, shallow-toothed. Flowers yellow, 1 in. diameter. Male flower anthers 3 flexuous; female flower 1-3 together. Fruit 1 in. long echinate. Berber Prov. (Zeidab); Blue Nile Prov. (Abu Haraz); Fung Prov.; White Nile Prov. (J. Arashkol); Upper White Nile Prov. (Bahr El Zeraf), Red Sea Prov. (Khor Gateb). The fruit is said to have purgative properties and to be a remedy for dropsy. A mixture of the spongy tissue of the fruit and of milk (known by the Sudanese as “Wassi purgative”) is taken by barren women to stimulate pregnancy. 162 =Eureiandra Schweinfurthii= _Cogn._ Herbaceous climber; tendrils simple. Leaves deeply trilobed, about 3 in. broad, scabrid. Stamens 5, much twisted. Fruit narrowly, 2 in. long. Bahr El Ghazal Prov. (Jur Ghattas). 163 =Momordica pterocarpa= _Hochst._ Climbing herb. Leaves digitate, 5-fol.; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, obliquely cordate, 2-4 in. long. Male flowers crowded at end of a peduncle with a hooded green bract ¾ in. long; corolla yellow, 1 in. diameter; anthers 3, cells nearly straight. Female flower solitary, ebracteate. Fruit 2-3 in. long, ovoid, pointed, with 8-10 short wings, red when ripe. Bahr El Ghazal Prov. (Niamniam-land). =M. Balsamina= _Pinn._ (EL) SHA’ALUK & (EL) YEIR (Blue Nile), (EL) ERRA (N. Kordn.) & BEYLÄSĀN (Egypt), TAMR EL ABID—Arab.