Peponium mackenii Engl.

Perennial herb. Stems normally climbing, occasionally prostrate, rather stout, longitudinally sulcate, up to at least 10 m long, at least in the young parts rather densely covered with multicellular soft curved or crinkly hairs of a drab or pale fawnish colour, less often pubescence nearly absent. Leaves herbaceous drying thin but not quite membranous, more or less pentagonal in outline, 6-13 cm long, 6-16 cm broad, palmatilobed to about the middle or less deeply so with the upper three lobes large, distinct, triangular in outline, gradually acute or acuminate to cuspidate, the central one slightly larger; two lowermost lobes often much smaller and oblique or somewhat irregular, sometimes bilobed; basal sinus usually broad and often rather shallow; upper leaf surface thinly covered with appressed long or short hairs, glabrescent or becoming smooth, or scabrid from the sometimes persistent bases of the hairs appearing as minute whitish pustules; lower surface more densely and more persistently pubescent mainly on the larger veins; leaf margin rather finely crenate-dentate with usually acute to apiculate-mucronate teeth; petioles usually densely pilose, rather stout, 3-8 cm long. Male flowers usually solitary and in this case on 4-18 cm long pubescent pedicels or rarely in few-flowered racemes on a common peduncle up to about 8 cm long on short usually pubescent bracteolate pedicels; bracteoles obovate, membranous, sometimes stipitate, about 1 cm long; receptacle obconical to narrowly campanulate, much attenuate towards the base but a small basal portion again dilated, nearly glabrous, 16-18 mm long and 8-9 mm in diam. at the apex; sepals erect, usually thinly pilose, 5-6 mm long; petals light clear yellow, papillose, 3-3.5 cm long. Female flowers: pedicels 1-2 cm long; ovary narrowly fusiform, somewhat pilose. Fruit ovoid-oblong, somewhat narrowed but rounded at the base, conical-attenuate at the apex, green mottled with white when young, ultimately glabrous, smooth, red, 6-9 cm long and 3-4 cm in diam. Seeds dark-brown to dull black, 9-10 mm long, 5-6 mm broad and 1-2 mm thick.