Climber, 3-6 m, sparsely grey soft hairy and minutely papillose on young parts, hairs c. 1 mm long; leafy stem 2.5-4 mm diameter. Tendrils 10-25 cm long. Leaves: petiole 3-5 cm long; blade (narrowly) ovate, 10-20(-30) by 5-14(-17) cm, greenish on drying, above with cystoliths, margin entire or faintly lobulate-dentate near the base; (3-)5-palmiveined and 2 or 3 pairs of veins from the midvein. Male inflorescences 8-15 cm long, peduncle 4-8 cm long, flower-bearing part 4-10 cm long, bracts persistent, (narrowly) elliptic or spathulate, 3-10(-15) mm long, rounded, entire, conspicuously veined. Male flowers: pedicel 5-15(-30) mm long, faintly articulate 3-10 mm below perianth, the portion below articulation persistent; open flower 5-8 mm diam.; receptacle-tube cup-shaped, 2.5-4.5 by 2-4 mm; sepals narrowly triangular-linear, 1.5-3 mm long, patent or recurved; petals imbricate, elliptic, rounded, 2-5 mm long, 3(-5)-veined, papillose; stamens inserted 0.5(-1) mm below the rim of the receptacle, filaments 0.5-1 mm long, anthers (thecae) 2-3 mm long, half included or exserted; disc central, consisting of 3 contiguous subconical parts, 1-1.5 mm high. Female inflorescences (1-3)-flowered, peduncle 2-8 cm long; bracts as in male flowers, persistent. Female flowers as male flowers; pedicel 5-15(-30) mm long; ovary ellipsoid, c. 5 mm long, passing with short neck (c. 1 mm long) into shallow receptacle-tube c. 1 mm long; style conspicuous, c. 2 mm long, stigma with 3 thick notched lobes; staminodes small, 0.5-1 mm long, in 2 pairs and one solitary. Fruits solitary or 2 or 3 together (peduncle 2.5-10 cm long), ripening orange, globose, 3-4.5 cm diam., grey-white soft hairy, hairs 1-2 mm long; pericarp thin, pergamentaceous; endocarp pulpy-juicy; fruiting pedicel 0.5-1.5 cm long, soft hairy. Seeds numerous, pale, (broadly) ovate, c. 5 mm across, base truncate, apex rounded, edge entire.
Home