Page:The Journal of Indian Botany.djvu/299

TENDKILS IN SOME CUCUKBITACEAE. 257

The basal part of the tendril is radial in section and has a ring (as seen in t. s.) of six to nine bundles which anastomose at different levels.

The arms of the tendrils are similar in structure to those of Benincasa cerifera.

The vascular connections of the tendril and the leaf with the stem are also similar.

The arrangement of organs at the node is similar to that in Ben- incasa, except that the flower is here replaced by an inflorescence- The tendril is two-armed.

The stem and leaf-stalk do not present any great differences from the first type.

The basal part of the tendril is radial with nine to twelve or thirteen bundles which are so arranged that large and small bundles alternate. The branches of the tendrils show the same structure as in the first type except that the bundles are seveD at the base diminishing to five near the apex.

The relationships of the organs at the node are the same as in Beni?icasa cerfera but the tendrils are four-armed.

The structure of the stem and the petiole is in general similar to that of the first type.

The basal part of the tendril in transverse section is slightly six- lobed and has six bundles in one ring. There is no trace of a ventral groove so that the structure is radial. The tendril-arms have a distinct groove and the bundles are arranged on the type of the petiole.

The vascular bundles of the tendril unite with the bundles of the inner ring of the stem, while the leaf-traces are connected with the outer bundles as described before.

Each tendril-arm receives three branches from three bundles of the tendril situated on the side on which the arm is given off.

In one case it was found that a ripe elongated fruit was apparently arising immediately below the branching point of a tendril. On cutting sections of the lower part of the tendril it was found that it was merely a case of fusion of the flower-pedicel with the basal part of the tendril. Goebel mentions a simlar case.

The arrangement of the organs at the node is the same as in the last species but the tendrils are simple.