Plants perennial; roots tuberous. Stems usually sprawling, sometimes climbing, often rooting adventitiously at nodes, to 10 m, sparsely hirsute-strigillose with deflexed hairs to hispid-strigose or hirsute-strigose, muriculate or glabrous on ribs; tendrils 2–5-branched 1–1.5 cm above base, glabrous, often gland-tipped. Leaves: petiole 3–4(–8) cm, hispid or hispid and hirsute, often with deflexed hairs; blade depressed-ovate to reniform, palmately 5-lobed, sinuses nearly or completely to petiole, 4–11 × 8–15 cm, usually broader than long, base cordate, lobes narrowly lanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, <2–12 cm>, margins coarsely toothed or remotely sinuate-dentate to serrate, surfaces hispid to hispidulous, midvein and major veins whitish adaxially, densely hispidulous-strigillose with white hairs, eglandular. Peduncles in fruit shallowly 5-ribbed, not abruptly expanded at point of fruit attachment, spongy. Flowers: hypanthium cylindric to narrowly campanulate, 2.5–3 mm; sepals linear-subulate, 3–5 mm; corolla bright yellow, narrowly campanulate, 4–7 cm; anther filaments glabrous; ovary villous-hirsute. Pepos dark green with 10 whitish stripes and white mottling or yellow at maturity, globose to depressed-globose or oblong-globose, (6–)7–9.5 cm, smooth, <rind thin, hard-shelled>. Seeds dull white, ovate, obtusely pointed, 8–11 mm, margins thickened-raised, surfaces smooth. 2n = 40.
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A pumpkin family plant. It is a hairy vine. It can grow 10 m long and form roots at the nodes. The tendrils have 2-5 branches. The leaves have 5 finger like lobes. The flowers are yellow and curling and 5 cm across. The fruit is almost round and dark green. It is 7-10 cm across. It is mottled with white stripes. The seeds are about 1 cm long. They are dull white with thickened raised edges.
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