Petiole 2-6 cm, striate, villous; leaf blade adaxially deep green, suborbicular, 5-20 × 5-20 cm, papery, usually 3-5(-7)-lobed up to middle, rarely deeply so (nearly up to base) or unlobed; lobes rhombic-obovate or oblong, adaxially rough, margin sometimes remotely shortly lobed, apex obtuse. Male raceme solitary or with solitary flowers in axillary pairs; peduncle 10-20 cm, robust, grooved, slightly hairy, 5-8-flowered at apex; bracts obovate or broadly ovate, 1.5-2.5(-3) × 1-2 cm, margin sinuate-dentate, shortly puberulent, stipitate; calyx tube cylindric, dilated at apex, 2-4 × ca. 1 cm; segments lanceolate, 10-15 × 3-5 mm, entire. Female flowers solitary; pedicel ca. 7.5 cm, shortly puberulent; calyx tube cylindric, ca. 2.5 × 1.2 cm; ovary oblong, 1.2-2 × ca. 1 cm. Fruiting peduncle 4-11 cm; fruit brown-yellow or orange-yellow, oblong or globose, 7-10.5 cm. Seeds sandy beige, oblong-ovate, 11-16 × 7-12 mm, marginate. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 88.
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A pumpkin family plant. It is a vine up to 3-10 m long. It climbs. The leaves have 3-5 lobes. They are slightly rough underneath. The flowers are white. The fruit are red or orange. They are 7-11 cm long.
Forest edges and a weed of thickets in China. Open forests, bushlands, grasslands and fields beside villages at elevations of 200-1800 metres.
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A subtropical or temperate plant. It grows in open forests and grasslands between 200-1,800 m above sea level in China.
The starchy root, is peeled, cut into slices, soaked in repeated changes of water for five days until they disintegrate, and then mashed to a pulp which is made into steamed cakes. The pulp of the fruit is also eaten cooked. The young buds are boiled and eaten as a vegetable.
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