Trichosanthes villosa Blume

Species

Angiosperms > Cucurbitales > Cucurbitaceae > Trichosanthes

Characteristics

Climber to 24 m long, (grey-)brown or yellowish brown villose, hairs on stem and flowers to 3 mm long, leafy stem 3-5 mm diam.; dioecious. Probract absent. Tendrils 5-15-branched, point of branching 1-2 cm from the base. Leaves: petiole 3-11 cm long; blade (dark) brown on drying, membranous, simple, shallowly 3-5-lobed or angular, or unlobed, in outline subcircular or broadly ovate, 8-20(-26) by 8-19 cm, densely villose, particularly beneath, glands few to several, scattered, 0.5-1 mm diam., margin entire or sparsely minutely dentate, apex acute-acuminate, with a slender apiculum to 12 mm long; veins 5(-7), straight. Male raceme sometimes co-axillary with a solitary male flower, hairy; peduncle 5-12 cm long, 2-3 mm thick; rachis not thickened, 5-18 cm long, c. 10-flowered; bracts subpersistent, inserted on the rachis or to 20 mm shifted upwards on the pedicel, broadly rhomboid or obovate, 20-50(-60) by 30-40 mm, margin entire or shallowly few-dentate, mostly with small glands. Male flowers: pedicel 30-90 mm long, to 120 mm in solitary flowers, persistent; receptacle-tube 20-30 mm long, at throat 8-10 mm wide, at base often swollen, forming a pseudo-ovary (see note under T. intermedia); sepals narrowly triangular, 10-16 mm long, 2-3(-5) mm wide at base, entire; petals obovate-rhomboid, 15-20 mm long, threads 7-15 mm long; synandrium c. 10 mm long, filaments glabrous, c. 2 mm long. Female flowers: pedicel 30-60 mm long; ovary brown hairy, ellipsoid, c. 10 mm long; receptacle-tube and perianth as in male. Fruit ripening green, whitish or pale yellow striped, ellipsoid-globose, 9-15 by 8-11 cm; exocarp woody-leathery, less than 1 mm thick, smooth; pericarp firm-carnose, dry pericarp 10 mm thick; pulp white, fibrous, sweet; fruiting pedicel 3.5-5 cm long, 3-5(-10) mm thick, possibly sometimes thickened at the distal end. Seeds brown, compressed, (narrowly) ovate, 14-25 by 8-15 by 2-5 mm, base truncate, apex narrowly rounded, margin 2-3 mm broad, edge entire.
More
Stems robust, long, densely brownish villous; petiole 10-12 cm, densely brownish villous; leaf blade adaxially deep green, broadly ovate, 11-18 × 11-17 cm, papery, unlobed or tricuspidate, abaxially densely villous-hirsute, adaxially densely and shortly brownish villous, margin denticulate, apex acuminate. Male raceme 10-20 cm, 15-20-flowered; peduncle densely brownish villous; bracts oblong, 3-5 × 2-4 cm, both surfaces brownish villous, margin irregularly dentate; calyx tube 2.5-3 × 0.6-1.2 cm, densely brownish villous; segments linear-lanceolate, ca. 2 × 0.3-0.4 cm, both surfaces villous, margin entire, apex long acuminate. Female flowers solitary; pedicel ca. 1.5 cm, densely long villous; calyx tube cylindric, ca. 1.5 × 0.7 cm; ovary oblong, ca. 1.5 × 1 cm, densely villous. Fruit brown-red, subglobose, 8-13 cm. Seeds oblong or obovate-triangular, 1.7-2.8 × 1-1.7 cm, 1-veined at middle, base obtuse, apex truncate. Fl. Dec-next Jul, fr. Sep-Nov.
A pumpkin family plant. It is a climber. It can be 10 m long. The stem is slightly grooved. The leaves are broadly oval. The leaves are reddish brown and velvety underneath. The fruit are round and red. They can be 10-13 cm across. The pulp inside the fruit is white.
Life form -
Growth form herb
Growth support climber
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Sexuality
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Mature height (meter) 24.0
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Flower color
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Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

A tropical plant. It grows at about 900 m altitude in Yunnan in China. It grows in monsoonal rainforest.
Light -
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Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

The young fruit are boiled before eating. The leaves are cooked and eaten and used as flavouring.
Uses food medicinal
Edible fruits
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 14 - 30
Germination temperacture (C°) 18 - 23
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Distribution

Trichosanthes villosa world distribution map, present in China, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:294324-1
WFO ID wfo-0001225374
COL ID 58JSB
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Anguina villosa Trichosanthes villosa

Lower taxons

Trichosanthes villosa subsp. mindorensis