Coccinia quinqueloba (Thunb.) Cogn.

Species

Angiosperms > Cucurbitales > Cucurbitaceae > Coccinia

Characteristics

Perennial herbaceous nearly glabrous climber. Stems slender, branched, angular-sulcate or smooth, up to 10 m long. Leaves glaucous above, paler beneath, smooth or minutely punctate-scabrid, sometimes minutely hispid, on the veins above, suborbicular in outline, deeply palmately (3-) 5-sect, 4-12 cm long and 3-10 cm wide; the lobes oblong, often somewhat wider near the usually rounded apex, entire or callose-denticulate, less often more coarsely dentate or with a few lobules, mucronate, the central one 2-7 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm wide, the lateral ones gradually shorter; sinuses between the lobes rotundate; basal sinus very narrow (basal lobes of leaf sometimes overlapping) up to 2.5 cm deep; petioles slender, striate, usually slightly hairy, 1-3 cm long, occasionally shorter. Tendrils simple, striate, glabrous. Male plant: flowers solitary; pedicels subfiliform, 2-4 cm long or occasionally flowers in a few-flowered raceme; receptacle glabrous, 4-5 mm high, 6-7 mm in diam.; sepals triangular, triangular-lanceolate to ovate, 2 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide near the base, patent or erecto-patent; corolla about 2 cm long, shortly pubescent. Female plant: pedicels stoutish, 1-2 cm long; staminodes oblong, densely lanate-shaggy, about 2 mm long; ovary oblong-linear, glabrous or nearly so, smooth, attenuate at the apex, 2-2.5 cm long, 3-4 mm in diam., style 8 mm long, glabrous. Fruit ellipsoid, bright red when ripe, acute at the apex, more or less rounded at the base, 4-6 cm long and 2.5-4 cm in diam. Seeds obovate, somewhat attenuate at the base, smooth, 6-7 x 4x1-2 mm.
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Dioecious, perennial herb, ± glabrous. Stems slender, branched, climbing, up to 10 m long. Leaves glaucous above, paler below, outline suborbicular, deeply palmately 3-5-sect, up to 120 x 100 mm; lobes oblong, entire or callose-toothed, mucronate, central lobe longest, basal sinus very narrow, up to 25 mm deep; petioles 10-30 mm long. Flowers mostly solitary. Male flowers with 20-40 mm long pedicels; receptacle glabrous, 4-5 mm long; lobes ± triangular, 2 mm long; corolla ± 20 mm long, ± pubescent. Female flowers with 10-20 mm long pedicels. Flowering time Nov.-Apr. Fruit ellipsoid, bright red when ripe, apex acute, base ± rounded, up to 60 x 40 mm. Seeds obovate, smooth, 6-7 mm long.
A pumpkin family herb. It is a climber. It keeps growing from year to year. The fruit are narrowly oval and bright red when ripe. They are 4-6 cm long by 3-4 cm wide. The seeds are oval and 6-7 mm long by 4 mm wide.
Dioecious, glabrescent, perennial climber to 10 m. Leaves palmate with slightly toothed lobes. Flowers solitary in axils, yellowish. Fruits ellipsoid, scarlet.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support climber
Foliage retention -
Sexuality dioecy
Pollination -
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Mature height (meter) 0.0 - 0.01
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Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

A tropical plant. It can grow in arid places.
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Hardiness (USDA) 9-11

Usage

The leaves are used as a potherb. They are cooked with peanuts and tomatoes.
Uses food medicinal potherb
Edible leaves
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

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Distribution

Coccinia quinqueloba world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:292005-1
WFO ID wfo-0000612957
COL ID WKF4
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Momordica quinqueloba Melothria quinqueloba Bryonia quinqueloba Cephalandra quinqueloba Coccinia quinqueloba