Siraitia Merr.

Perennial herbaceous climbers with sub or supra-terraneous tuber (always?), leaves and stems with blackish glandular hairs; dioecious. Probract absent or not obvious. Tendrils distally 2-branched, spiralling both below and above point of branching, although basal portion straight. Leaves: blade ovate, simple, unlobed, green on drying. Flowers: petals yellow, free. Male flowers in racemes or panicles; bracts absent or present; receptacle-tube rather shallow, conspicuously coarsely anastomosing-veined externally; without obvious disc, although receptacle-tube with thickened bottom; pedicels articulate towards apex; sepals ± triangular; petals (narrowly) elliptic or (narrowly) ovate, two or all with an incurved basal adaxial scale; stamens 5, inserted near the throat of shallow receptacle-tube, in two pairs and one solitary, filaments long, anthers 1-thecous, thecae sigmoid, the connective frequently with conspicuous papillae. Female flowers solitary (or elsewhere few in a short raceme); style-arms largely free, stigmas ± 2-lobed or reniform; staminodes 5, glandular. Fruit ± fleshy, indehiscent, subglobose to cylindric, rather large (5-11 cm long), smooth; pulp sometimes sweet. Seeds numerous, broadly ovate or subcircular in outline, compressed, faces smooth, with broad finely radiatingly ribbed, corky, double or 3-ridged margin, edge (sub)entire.