Volume 9 > Part 4 > Year 2008 > Page 456 > Cucurbitaceae > Hodgsonia

2. Hodgsonia macrocarpa (Blume) Cogn.wfo-0000724152

in A. &C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 3: 349. 1881; Backer in Backer & Bakh. f., Fl. Java 1: 305. 1964; W.J.de Wilde & B.E.E. Duyfjes, Blumea 46: 174, f. 2a: 3–4. 2001.— Trichosanthes macrocarpa Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 15: 935. 1826. Fig. 18: A; 19.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Tall climber, to 30 m long; leafy shoots 4–7 mm diam. Leaves: blade usually 3-lobed, lower surface puberulous or glabrescent, small glands several, especially towards the base, blade margin entire; petiole 3–7 cm long. Male inflorescences 12–20(–30) cm long; peduncle (2–)10–20 cm long, 3–5 mm thick; flowers (5–)10–20. Male flowers: pedicel 2–10 mm long; bract inserted up to 10 mm from the base; receptacle-tube 50–70 mm long, basal part 30–45 mm by 3–4 mm, the tube above the middle widening into a dilated section 20–25 mm long, 10(–15) mm wide at the throat; sepals 1(–2) mm long; petals 20–30 mm long, white, outside at base rusty puberulous, threads ca 50 mm long, white, pendent (?), spiralling (?). Stamens inserted at about the middle of the receptacle-tube, i.e. where widening, filaments (5–)7 mm long; synandrium elongate, apex truncate, 10–12 by 3.5–4 mm, included; disc parts oblong, inserted at base of the tube, 4–6 mm long, free. Female flowers: pedicel 3–4 cm long; receptacle-tube ca 3 cm long (including a ca 6 mm long solid basal part which remains on the ovary after anthesis), gradually widening to ca 7(–10) mm wide throat; style 15–20 mm long, stigma 13–14 by 6–8 mm, lobes truncate; ovary 10–12 mm diam., with ca 1 mm long brown hairs, pustules absent (always?), ovules 6, one in each locule. Fruit 10–18 cm diam., greyish green, densely grey or brown hairy, sometimes with large, scattered, dark-coloured wart-like lenticels, not grooved; fruiting pedicel 4–8 by 1–1.5 cm. Pyrenes 6–9 cm long, containing 1 seed.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Chumphon, Nakhon Si Thammarat (Khao Luang NP), Phatthalung (Khao Pu-Khao Ya NP), Pattani, Narathiwat (Hala Bala WS).

Distribution : Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia [Sumatra, Java (type), Borneo), S Myanmar.

Ecology : Disturbed places in evergreen forests, forests fringes, riversides, in soil over granite bedrock as well as on limestone, 100–250 m alt. Flowering at night, flowers fragrant. Flowering: February and April; fruiting: December and April.

Vernacular : Nam tao phi (น้ำเต้าผี)(Surat Thani).

Uses: The roasted fatty seeds of Hodgsonia macrocarpa are edible. The empty stone-seeds (pyrenes) can be found on the forest floor, gnawed open by rodents. The ashes of burnt leaves are used in healing wounds.

Notes: Enormous seeds (pyrenes) of Hodgsonia, measuring 10.5 by 7 cm, found near Chumphon, in the Isthmus of Kra area, seem to represent a yet undescribed taxon.