Perennial usually prostrate herb; stems up to 1 m. long, hairy with coarse ± aculeate hairs and also with finer intermixed spreading hairs; basal stems thickened with light-coloured bark, arising from a thickened rootstock.. Leaf-blade ± ovate in outline, weakly cordate or subtruncate at the base, somewhat sinuate-toothed, very rough-hairy above and beneath, 20–71 mm. long, 20–74 mm. broad, 0.8–1.2 times as long as broad, palmately 3–5-lobed; lobes rather rounded above, somewhat narrowed below, with the central lobe largest, sometimes itself ± 3-lobulate, 20–53 mm. long, 0.7–0.9 times as long as the whole blade, narrowed at its base to 0.3–0.9 of its breadth at its broadest; petiole 10–35 mm. long, hairy like the stems.. Male flowers solitary on 3–12 mm. long pedicels; receptacle-tube 2.5–4 mm. long; lobes filiform, 1.5–2 mm. long; corolla yellow, with lobes 4–7 mm. long, 2–3.5 mm. broad, united below.. Female flowers on 6–12 mm. long stalks; ovary ellipsoid, 5–7 mm. long, 3–3.5 mm. across, covered with forward-pointing hyaline bristles; receptacle-tube 3–4 mm. long; lobes subulate-filiform, 1.5–2 mm. long; corolla-lobes 5–9 mm. long, 2.5–5 mm. broad.. Fruit (fig. 15/3, p. 95) on a 7–25 mm. long stalk, bluntly ellipsoid, 23–50(–88) mm. long, 12–30(–63) mm. across, beset with rather closely scattered broadly conical low pustules each ending in a broad blunt bristle derived from the hairs of the ovary, dark green with 10 longitudinal pale green or grey-green longitudinal stripes, ripening deep yellow.. Seeds ellipsoid, 5 × 2.5 × 1.2 mm.. Fig. 16/1–7, p. 101.
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A pumpkin family climbing herb. It grows 2 m long. The stems have short soft hairs and a few hooked spines. The old stems are thick and have scaly bark at the base. The leaves are simple and have 3 lobes. They are oval or broadly rounded. The base is heart shaped. The edges are wavy and there are teeth around the edge. There are single tendrils beside the leaves. Male and female flowers are on the same plant. They occur singly beside the leaves. They have a green bell shaped tube and yellow petals. The fruit is fleshy and oval. They are 5 cm long and green with faint stripes. They turn bright yellow as they ripen. The stalk is thick and 3-6 cm long. The skin has hard cone shaped projections 2 mm long over it.
A ground-trailer from a perennial base
It is a tropical plant. It grows in medium altitude wooded grasslands. It grows up to 1,300 m above sea level. It grows in areas with a rainfall between 600-1,300 mm.
The tender leaves are cooked and eaten. They are also dried in the sun, pounded and used as a vegetable paste with grounded peanuts. The young fruit are eaten raw. Mature fruit are boiled and eaten. Mature fruit are cut into small slices, dried and cooked as a vegetable after adding peanut paste. The roots are used to make alcohol more intoxicating.
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