Momordica sessilifolia Cogn.

Species

Angiosperms > Cucurbitales > Cucurbitaceae > Momordica

Characteristics

Climber with tuberous woody rootstock.. Young stems herbaceous, glabrous; older stems with brownish papery bark, woody, becoming greyish, angular and rough.. Leaves subsessile; blade hastate, rounded and apiculate, wiht the basal lobes rounded, amplexicaul and often overlapping, entire, glabrous, 38–52 mm. long, 10–19 mm. broad; petiole up to 2 mm. long.. Tendrils simple.. Probably monoecious.. Male flowers 1–2 together, apical on a 21–37 mm. long peduncle and subtended by a suborbicular basally cordate 3.5–5 mm. long 9–12 mm. broad bract; pedicels 9–23 mm. long; receptacle-tube broadly campanulate, 3.5–5 mm. long, dark greenish-purple; lobes ovate, acute, 5–7 mm. long, petals orange-yellow, oblong below, expanded, rounded and slightly apiculate above, ± 8–11 mm. long and 5 mm. broad, 2 with scales inside at the base; stamens 2; thecae arcuate.. Female flowers sessile in the axil of an orbicular deeply cordate 6–15 mm. long 15–28 mm. broad bract apical on an 8–26 mm. long peduncle; ovary ± 6–10 mm. long and 1 mm. broad, narrowly fusiform-cylindrical, slightly constricted about one-third of its length from the base.. Fruit 17–22 mm. long, 1.5–3.5 mm. across, dry when mature, subterete, slightly constricted at about one-third of its length from the base, basally 1-seeded.. Seed ± 10 × 2 × 2 mm.; testa smooth.
Life form -
Growth form herb
Growth support climber
Foliage retention -
Sexuality monoecy
Pollination -
Spread -
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Flower color
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Nitrogen fixer -
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Environment

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Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Uses material
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 14 - 21
Germination temperacture (C°) 18 - 23
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Distribution

Momordica sessilifolia world distribution map, present in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:293547-1
WFO ID wfo-0001301287
COL ID 73NNJ
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Raphanocarpus membranosus Momordica stefaninii Raphanocarpus stefaninii Momordica sessilifolia