| | | Hodgsonia heteroclita (Roxb.) Hook.f. & Thomson, Proc. Linn. Soc. ii: 257. 1853; de Wilde & Duyfjes, Blumea 46: 178. 2001. | | Cucurbitaceae | |
Description: Liana up to 30 m. Leaves deeply 3–5-lobed, almost glabrous with few small glands; probact thorn like, ca 5 mm long; petiole 4–8 cm. Tendrils 2–3 branched. Male inflorescences 15–35 cm long, peduncle 8–15 cm long. Flowers 10–20; pedicel 2–6 mm long; bract inserted at base; receptacle-tube 7–12 cm long; sepals 2–4 mm long; petals 3–5 cm long, outside pale yellowish, threads to 15 cm long, villous, pendent, spiralling. Stamens inserted just below the throat; synandrium subglobose, 5–10 mm in diam; disc parts linear, 3–5 cm long, adnate about half-way with the tube, free at apex. Female flowers solitary, resembling male ones; pedicel 2–3 cm long pedicel; receptacle-tube 5–6 cm long; style c. 5 cm long, stigma 7–9 mm long, bifid; ovary c. 10 mm in diam.; ovules 10–15, in each locule 1–3. Fruits 15–20 cm in diam., glabrescent, greenish brown turning red brown, smooth or shallowly grooved; pyrenes 3–7 cm long, containing 1–3 (partly abortive) seeds; fruit stalk 2–3 cm long. | | | | Male flowers and a black probract showing green nectar glands
visited by ants | |
Distribution: Widely scattered from Sikkim, Bhutan, E India, S China, Myanmar, Indochina, to north of the Isthmus of Kra, evergreen to montane forests, 800–1,000 m. Flowering starts at night and continues into the new daytime. Seeds are edible, in China, Hodgsonia is cultivated for medicinal purposes and oil seeds.
Notes: Last updated on 15 November 2016. | |
Thai name: Ma kling (มะกลิ้ง). | |
Photos: Rachun Pooma (Flowers: Doi Phukha, Nan; fruits Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden, Chiang Mai, cultivated, seeds collected from the market in Myanmar). | |
References:
| Wilde de W.J.J.O. and B.E.E.Duyfjes. 2001. Taxonomy of Hodgsonia (Cucurbitaceae) with a note on the ovules and seeds. Blumea 46: 169–179. |
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