Hodgsonia Hook.F. & Thomson

Liana, to 30 m long, leafy shoots 4-7 mm diam., almost glabrous; dioecious. Probract c. 5 mm long, thorn-like, with glands on lower surface. Tendrils 2-or 3-branched. Leaves: blade coriaceous, subcircular in outline, 15-25 cm diam., palmately (deeply) 3-5-lobed, scattered minute glands often present, margin entire, tertiary veining on lower surface prominent. Flowers large, puberulous; corolla rotate; petals free, white, long-fringed, the in bud exposed portion conspicuously veined. Male inflorescences stout bracteate racemes, hairy; bracts elliptic or oblong, entire, 5-10 mm long, glandular on lower surface, often inserted on the pedicel, subdeciduous. Male flowers: receptacle-tube elongate, widened towards or near the apex; calyx lobes minute, with few glands on lower surface sometimes also on the tube; petals cuneate; stamens 3, filaments short, free, inserted towards the apex of the receptacle-tube, anthers one 1-thecous, two 2-thecous, united into a head, largely included, thecae linear, plicate, connective narrow, not produced; disc consisting of 3 elongate parts, either free or largely adnate with basal portion of the tube. Female flowers solitary, resembling male flowers; ovary subglobose, 6-locular, ovules 6 or about 12, in each locule 1 or 2 (or 3) collaterally attached at the bottom (rarely the apex) of the locules; style filiform, stigma large, obconical, 3-lobed, partly exserted; staminodes and disc absent. Fruit a large drupe, hard-skinned, depressed globose, 12-25 cm diam., filled with firm pulp and 6 large, subovoid, deeply veined pyrenes, each containing 1 or 2 (or 3) seeds. Seeds large.