P L A T E DXLVIIL
C U C U M I S D U D A I M.
Sweet-scented Melon.
C L A S S XXI. ORDER VIII.
MONCECIA MONADELPHIA. Chives and Pointals separate. One Brotherhood.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
Masculini Jlores.
CALYX 5-dentatus. Corolla 5-partita. Filamenta
3,
Fcemìneì Jìores.
CALYX 5-dentatus. Corolla 5-partita. Pistillum
3-fidum.
Male Jiowers.
EMPALEMENT 5-toothed. Blossom 5-parted. Filaments
3.
Female flowers.
EMPALEMENT 5-toothed. Blossoip 3-parted.
Pointal 3-cleft.
CucUMis foliomm angulis rotundatis^ dentatis,
hispidis : fructu sphserico/ aurantio^ variegato,
odoratissimo.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
MELON with leaves angular, rounded, toothed,
and hispid : frnit spherical, of a gold colour,,
variegated, and very sweet-scented.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A blossom spread open.
2. A chive magnified.
3. Empalement; seed-bud, and pointal.
4. A horizontal section of the fruit.
5. A female flower spread open.
THIS curious little species of Melon;, although no new introduction to the English garden», is but rarely
met with, yet well deserves a place in every curious collection for the beauty and f ramnce of its fruitwhich,
when cut before quite ripe, will continue fragrant nearly a fortnight. It is however only to b^
valued lor its odour and beauty, the flavour being insipid. It is said to have been first introduced bv
Lord Petre, who sent the seeds from Morocco to Peter Collinson, F. R. S. It is also cultivated in Per
sia, and a figure of the fruit taken there is given in Gmelin's Travels, vol. iii. tab 4Q fig 6 Its He
brew appellation of Dudaim seems to have been bes;-wed by Linnaeus, from the feutastical'idea that
It was the fruit mentioned in the Bible by the name of mandrake, with which Jacob's neo-lerted wife
purchased her husband's favours for one night of her rival. Another plant with perennial roots°descendino-
G or 8 feet into the earth, was taken by his pupil Hasselqnist (sent to (he East on purpose to illustratS
tiie natural history of that country) for the celebrated D u d a imWh i c h is the right orfe let critics in
Hebrew decide ! The Melo ,^gyphcus minor of Tournefort, or Egyptian Abdelavi, whxh Linnaeus
supposed to be the same as the Melo aurantiifgnra odoratissimus of Dillenius, and micrht partly have
occasioned the name, is a very ditfereut species. Indeed the claim of our plant to Jlgyptian ori^ia
seems doiibttul, but we would reluctantly change a name that lias been applied for more than half a
century. Our specimens are from the collection of A, B Lambert, esq.