Volume 9 > Part 4 > Year 2008 > Page 518 > Cucurbitaceae > Trichosanthes

3. Trichosanthes dunniana H.Lév.wfo-0001301354

Feddes Rep. Sp. Nov. 10: 148. 1911; S.K.Chen in C.Y.Wu, C.Chen & S.K.Chen, Fl. Yunnan. 6: 353, pl. 93: 1–4. 1995; Duyfjes & Pruesapan, Thai Forest Bull. (Bot.) 32: 85. 2004. Fig. 41: C.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Medium-sized climber; green, but flowers reddish (inflorescences not seen from Thailand); cystoliths obvious; stem 1–2(–3) mm diam., glabrous. Probract broadly ovate, 2–4 by 3–4 mm, subentire, glabrescent, with few glands. Tendrils 2- or 3-branched. Leaves: blade deeply 3–5-lobed, ovate-orbicular in outline, 8–15 by 7–12 cm, glabrous and scabrous, glands 2–5, large, close to the vein-axils towards the blade base, 1–1.5 mm diam.; base cordate, mid lobe narrowly ellipic, narrowed at base, up to 12 by 4 cm; margin coarsely serrate-dentate; apex acute-acuminate, mucronate; petiole 3–5 cm long. Male inflorescences (not known from Thailand, description from Esquirol 726, S China) 7–10 cm long, glabrescent or finely hairy; peduncle ca 4 cm long, 2–3 mm thick; rachis short, with ca 10 flowers; bracts persistent, broadly obovate, 20–25 by 20 mm, glands few, ca 1 mm diam., margin shallowly incised, 2–3 mm deep. Male flowers finely hairy; pedicel short, ca 2 mm long; receptacle-tube ca 15 mm long, at throat ca 8 mm wide; sepals long-triangular, ca 9 by 3 mm, margin entire; petals ca 10 by 10 mm, threads not studied; synandrium not studied. Fruits ellipsoid, 5–7.5 by 4.5–5.5 cm; pericarp 5–10 mm thick; exocarp coarsely wrinkled on drying; pulp greenish-blackish; fruiting pedicel 2–2.5 by ca 0.4 cm. Seeds pale brown, little compressed, ovoid-ellipsoid, 10–12 by 5–7 by 3–5 mm, blunt or rounded at both ends, smooth, margin absent, edge rounded, entire.

Field-note.— Fresh fruit (possibly not fully mature) hard, glossy green with yellowish streaks.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Tak.

Distribution : S China (type), Laos, Myanmar.

Ecology : Rocky places or forests edges, along roadsides and streams, 500–600 m alt. (ca 1500 m in China). Fruiting: July and October.

Notes: Henry 9494 from China is reported to have dark red flowers.