Climber to 12 m long, minutely brown hairy, hairs 1 mm long, glabrescent, leafy stem 3-6 mm diam.; monoecious or dioecious. Probract membranous or somewhat fleshy, (narrowly) elliptic, 5-10(-15) mm long, glands absent or present. Tendrils 2-4-branched. Leaves: petiole 3.5-14 cm long; blade greenish brown on drying, membranous, chartaceous or subcoriaceous, simple, 5-7-lobed to c. 3/4 deep (unlobed in juvenile stages), in outline circular, 10-28 by 11-26 cm, not or little scabrous, often finely bullate above, glands few or absent, generally towards the base, 1-3 mm diam., cystoliths not obvious, margin sometimes recurved, entire or irregularly shallowly dentate; veins 5-7, straight, ± sunken above. Male raceme thinly brown hairy; peduncle 2-6 cm long, 3-7 mm thick; rachis thickened, 13-35 cm long, 5-20 mm thick, 20-flowered (or more); bracts late-caducous or persistent, subcoriaceous, rhomboid or broadly obovate, 40-60 by 20-30 mm, margin coarsely dentate, sometimes with 3 main lobes, glands absent. Male flowers: pedicel 3-10 mm long, caducous; receptacle-tube 30-45 mm long, at throat 7-8(-10) mm wide; sepals narrowly triangular, 10(-17) mm long, 3-4 mm wide at base, entire or with few narrow lobes; petals obovate-rhomboid, 17-20 mm long, threads 5-10 mm long; synandrium 12-15 mm long, inserted at c. 15 mm below throat, filaments 3-4 mm long, hairy; disc close to the base of the receptacle-tube, consisting of 3 transverse pads. Female flowers: sometimes monoecious with flower co-axillary with the male raceme, or some flowers mixed in the male raceme; pedicel 15-30 mm long (when in male raceme shorter), ovary short brown hairy or subglabrous, subglobose or ovoid, 10-15 by 8-10 mm; receptacle-tube and perianth as in male. Fruit solitary at the nodes or in old male raceme, ripening evenly orange or bright red, (depressed) globose or ellipsoid, 10-14 by 8-14 cm, apex rounded; exocarp woody, c. 1 mm thick, smooth; dry pericarp firm-carnose, 15 mm thick; pulp green-black, bitter; fruiting pedicel 3-5 cm long, 10-20(-25) mm thick. Seeds brown-black, compressed, ovate-oblong, 17-20 by 6-8 by 2-3 mm, base and apex narrowly rounded, margin present, distinct or faint, edge entire.
Home