Perennial prostrate monoecious herb. Stems several from a woody rootstock, rather firm and rigid, elongate, branched, sulcate, armed with short white thick spines. Leaves rather rigid, cordate-ovate to cordate-oblong in outline, canescent, scabrid, pedately-palmately 3-5-nerved from the base, 4-11 cm long and 3-9 cm wide, entire or 3-lobed to deeply 5-fid, lobes obtuse, entire or denticulate, sometimes lobulate; petioles rather stout, very scabrid, 2-5 cm long. Tendrils usually stout, shortly hispid-setose. Male flowers solitary or 2-3 together, pedicels filiform, shortly hispid-setose, about 1 cm long; receptacle sparsely hirsute, about 5 mm long; sepals subulate or narrowly triangular to lanceolate, about 2 mm long; petals puberulous, ovate-oblong, obtuse, 6-7 mm long. Female flowers solitary, peduncles rather short, 1-3 cm long, in fruit ultimately attaining 5-10 cm; ovary with thick short spines. Fruit broadly ovoid to subglobose, concolorous, in sicco turning yellowish-brown, glabrous when mature, sparsely covered with short hemispherical protuberances representing the bases of the spines of the ovary, 5-8 cm long and 4-6 cm in diam. Seeds whitish to pale yellow, oblong, 6 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide and 1.5 mm thick.
Home