Momordica sahyadrica-plant

Description

Tendrillar dioecious, perennial climbers with tuberous tap root; tendrils unbranched, 8-15 cm long, the basal 4-5 cm uncoiled. Leaves alternate, entire or 3-5 lobed, 10-16 x 8-18 cm, ovate or broadly triangular in outline, sometimes hastate, apex acute or acuminate, base deeply cordate, margin entire, undulate or coarsely crenulate, lateral veins 5-7 pairs, the lower pair running close to the margin of the basal sinus, hairs short, scattered, white; petiole 3-8 cm long, 1-1.5 mm, thick. Male flowers axillary, solitary or a loose fascicle of 5-7 flowers; peduncle 2-5 cm long, pedicels 0.8-1 cm long; bract reniform to 3 x 3 cm, margins cuccullate. Sepals free, elliptic oblong, ca 1 x 0.6 cm, yellowish white at center. Petals free, obovate, ca 4 x 2.5 cm, bright yellow, three petals with a small tongue-like ciliate appendage near the base. Stamens 3, two of them with a pair of anthers, the other with a single anther, yellowish orange, filaments up to 3 mm long, anthers 2-3 x 1-2 mm, extrorse, thecae dull black. Female flowers solitary, axillary; peduncle 0.5-2 cm long; pedicel up to 2 cm long, subtended either by a rudimentary (1.3 x 0.5-5 mm) or reniform ca 2 x 2 cm bract. Sepals green, persistent, lanceolate, 0.8-1.3 x 1-3 mm, acuminate, densely glandular hairy within and without. Petals ca 4 x 2 cm, greenish-yellow and ciliate at base; staminodes 5 (2+2+1), white, cylindrical, touching the style. Ovary oblong-ovoid, 1-1.5 x 0.3-0.5 cm, more or less densely clothed with soft papillae of ca 1 mm length; style ca 6 mm long; stigma ca 4 x 9 mm, 3 lobed, each lobe again 2-lobed. Fruits broadly ellipsoid or ovoid to fusiform, 5-7.5 x 3-4.2 cm, dark green, turning bright orange on ripening, densely clothed with soft short spines 2-4 mm long; pulp carmine red; seeds black, shining, round or slightly cog-wheel-shaped, margin warty-dentate, sculptured on faces with irregular furrows and ridges, 6.2-7.7 x 5.4-6.9 mm.

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