Young stems hispid to hispidulous or puberulous. Leaves with hispid to shortly pubescent petioles 5-14 cm; lamina ovate to broadly ovate or deeply 3-5-lobed with narrow sinuses, base cordate, apex acuminate, 12-25 by 8-18.5 cm, margin entire, both surfaces hispid to hispidulous. Male inflorescences supra-axillary (or terminal), elongate, a raceme of cymes, (12—)23—36 cm, the lateral branches 2-6 cm, puberulous. Male flowers on pedicels 1-1.5 mm: sepals yellow or cream, papillose or puberulous, main outer sepals narrowly elliptic, 2-2.5 mm long, inner sepals broader, 2-2.5 mm long; petals rotund, 0.5-0.75 mm long with 2 basal inwardly projecting lobes, or these joined together; synandrium cylindrical, thick, 1.25 mm long; anthers with vertical slits. Female inflorescences pseudo-racemose or with lateral branches cymose or racemose, 9-15 cm. Female flowers: sepals and petals similar to male; staminodes 1 mm; carpels 1.5 mm. Drupes yellow turning red, subellipsoidal, hispid with fine spines of endocarp projecting through pericarp when dry, 2.2-2.8 cm long, peduncles c. 5 mm; endocarp resembling a hedgehog, densely covered with long thin patent spines, apart from the closed inflated ventral chamber, c. 2 cm long, seed-chamber dorsiventrally very compressed.
More
A woody climber. The young stems can have sharp hairs.
Home
