Volume 9 > Part 4 > Year 2008 > Page 523 > Cucurbitaceae > Trichosanthes

6. Trichosanthes kerrii Craibwfo-0001225399

Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew: 7. 1914; Gagnep., Fl. Indo-Chine 2: 1047. 1921; Craib, Fl. Siam. 1: 753. 1931; C.H. Yueh & C.Y. Cheng, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 12(4): 433, fig. 6 & pl. 88: 26. 1974; S.K.Chen in C.Y.Wu, C.Chen & S.K.Chen, Fl. Yunnan. 6: 365, pl. 95: 1–4. 1995; Duyfjes & Pruesapan, Thai Forest Bull. (Bot.) 32: 87. 2004. Fig. 41: F; 43; Plate XXXIX: 2.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Climber to 10 m long; dark brown, yellowish or reddish brown-hairy, hairs 1–2 mm long; plant not reddish tinged; cystoliths not obvious; stem 3–4 mm diam., late glabrescent. Probract absent. Tendrils 2–7-branched, part below point of branching short, 0.5–1 cm long. Leaves: blade unlobed, ovate in outline, 12–28 by 9–20 cm, densely (grey-)rusty short villose on both surfaces, glands not obvious; base cordate; margin entire; apex acute-acuminate, 5–10 mm mucronate; petiole 5–11 cm long. Male inflorescences 10–20 cm long, wholly densely hairy, with co-axillary a densely hairy old pedicel 5–13 cm long; peduncle 8–17 cm long, 2–3 mm thick; rachis with 3–6 flowers; bracts inserted on the pedicel below the middle, (late) caducous, elliptic or rhomboid, 10–20 by 3–8 mm, glands not obvious, margin entire or shallowly few lobed. Male flowers hairy; pedicel 20–25 mm long; receptacle-tube 10–20 mm long, at throat ca 9 mm wide; sepals linear, 7–9 mm long, 1–2 mm wide at base, margin entire; petals wedge shaped, ca 25 mm long, threads ca 5 mm long; synandrium 5–7 mm long, filaments 3–5 mm long, glabrous, inserted towards the base of the tube. Female flowers: pedicel ca 20 mm long; ovary hairy, ellipsoid, 20–30 mm long; receptacle-tube ca 15 mm long; sepals hairy, long triangular, ca 15 mm long, margin entire. Fruits orange(-green), longitudinally paler striped, ellipsoid, 7–10 by 6–7 cm; exocarp ca 0.5 mm thick, leathery or woody, not wrinkled on drying, with sparse brown hairs, glabrescent; pulp creamy, sweet; fruiting pedicel 2.5–6 by 0.6–0.8 cm. Seeds dark brown, compressed, elliptic, 14–16 by 9–11 mm, base rounded, apex truncate or notched, margin distinct, ca 3 mm wide, edge shallowly undulate.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai (Doi Angka); Nan (Doi Wao – type: Kerr 2454, holotype -K, isotype -BM; Doi Phu Kha NP).

Distribution : Yunnan, Guangxi, India?, N Vietnam (Tonkin), Laos.

Ecology : In (seasonal) mountain forests edges, along streams, 1,100–1,500 m alt. Flowering: February and April; fruiting: May and September.

Vernacular : Khi ka mo kha (ขี้กาหมอคาร์).

Uses: Fruit sweet; said to be edible.