Trichosanthes wallichiana (Ser.) Wight

Species

Angiosperms > Cucurbitales > Cucurbitaceae > Trichosanthes

Characteristics

Stems branched, angular-grooved, glabrous. Petiole robust, 6-10 cm, striate, puberulent; leaf blade suborbicular, 18-20 × 18-20 cm, membranous or papery, deeply (nearly to base) palmately 5-7-lobed; lobes oblong, abaxially glabrous or slightly hairy on veins, adaxially glandular punctate and very rough, margin denticulate or irregularly crenate-dentate, apex acute or acuminate. Male raceme 6-15-flowered at apex; peduncle stout, 10-20(-30) cm, grooved, puberulent; bracts broadly ovate, 2-3 cm, crenulate, slightly puberulent, multiveined; calyx tube ca. 5 × 1 cm; segments ca. 1.5 × 0.4 cm, entire. Female flowers solitary; ovary ovoid-oblong, glabrous. Fruit ovoid or oblong, 5-10 × ca. 7 cm, apex acute or subacute. Seeds brown, oblong, 1.5-1.8 × 0.8-1.2 cm. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Oct-Nov.
More
A pumpkin family plant. It is a climber. The leaves have stalks. The leaves are less than round. The upper surface is slightly hairy. The lower surface is smooth. The leaves are divided like fingers on a hand into 3-9 lobe. These are oblong or sword shaped. They taper to a tip and have teeth along the edge. The flowers are of separate male and female sex. They are white. The fruit are oval.
Life form -
Growth form herb
Growth support climber
Foliage retention -
Sexuality monoecy
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) -
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

A tropical and subtropical plant. In Nepal plants grow between 600-2700 m altitude. They grow in moist, shady places.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
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Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 7-12

Usage

The seeds are pickled. CAUTION: The fruit are poisonous.
Uses medicinal poison
Edible seeds
Therapeutic use Headache (unspecified), Poison (unspecified), Miscarriage (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seed.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) 14 - 30
Germination temperacture (C°) 18 - 23
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
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Optimum temperature (C°) -
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Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Trichosanthes wallichiana world distribution map, present in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nepal, and Singapore

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:294326-1
WFO ID wfo-0001225383
COL ID 58JSD
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Anguina wallichiana Involucraria wallichiana Trichosanthes grandibracteata Trichosanthes wallichiana Trichosanthes palmata var. scotantus Trichosanthes bracteata var. scotanthus