All Floras      Advanced Search
FOC Vol. 19 Page 1, 36 Login | eFloras Home | Help
FOC | Family List | FOC Vol. 19 | Cucurbitaceae

21. Trichosanthes Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1008. 1753.

栝楼属 gua lou shu

Authors: Luqi Huang & Charles Jeffrey

Anguina Miller; Cucumeroides Gaertner; Involucraria Seringe.

Herbs, climbing, annual or perennial. Leaf blade simple, unlobed or palmately 3-7(-9)-lobed, rarely compound and 3-5-foliolate, margin usually denticulate. Tendrils usually 2-5-fid, rarely simple. Plants dioecious, rarely monoecious; flowers usually white, rarely pink or red. Male flowers usually in racemes, rarely solitary, sometimes male peduncles in axillary pairs, one 1-flowered, caducous, other bearing a raceme; bracts variable in size and form, rarely absent; calyx tube cylindric, frequently dilated at apex; segments 5, entire, serrate, or laciniate; corolla segments 5, usually long fimbriate; stamens 3, inserted on calyx tube; filaments very short, free; anthers connate, two 2-celled, other 1-celled, cells conduplicate. Female flowers solitary, very rarely in racemes; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary inferior, ovoid or fusiform, 1-loculed with 3 parietal placentas; ovules usually many, generally horizontal, half pendulous; style slender; stigmas 3, entire or bifid. Fruit globose, ovoid, or fusiform, fleshy, usually glabrous and smooth, many seeded, indehiscent. Seeds packed in pulp, 1-loculed, oblong or ovate, and compressed, or 3-loculed, turgid, with 2 lateral locules empty.

About 100 species: Asia and N Australia; 33 species (14 endemic, one introduced) in China.


1 Seeds subquadrangular, obovate-triangular, oblong, or 4-angled, 3-loculed, turgid, surrounded by thick ridges   (2)
+ Seeds elliptic, ovate-elliptic, or oblong, 1-loculed, compressed or turgid   (6)
       
2 (1) Seeds 4-angled, with narrow middle ridge, 2 lateral locules broad; leaf blade abaxially glabrous or puberulent on veins.   33 T. tetragonosperma
+ Seeds subquadrangular, obovate-triangular, or oblong, 2 lateral locules narrow; leaf blade abaxially densely pubescent   (3)
       
3 (2) Leaves unlobed or irregularly shortly 3-lobed   (4)
+ Leaves usually 3-7-lobed   (5)
       
4 (3) Leaf blade ovate, thinly membranous, unlobed; fruit ovoid, smooth, glabrous.   30 T. baviensis
+ Leaf blade broadly cordate, papery, unlobed or shortly 3-lobed; fruit ovoid-oblong or oblong, densely white villous.   31 T. trichocarpa
       
5 (3) Bracts lanceolate or oblanceolate, ca. 1.6 × 0.5-0.6 cm, margin triangular-dentate; leaves adaxially glabrous or puberulent.   29 T. pilosa
+ Bracts linear-lanceolate, 2-3 mm, entire; leaves adaxially tomentose.   32 T. cucumeroides
       
6 (1) Plants monoecious or dioecious; male flowers in racemes, bract very small, less than 5 mm; seed margin undulate-dentate   (7)
+ Plants dioecious; male flowers solitary or in racemes or rarely in a panicle; bracts 1-6.5 cm or rarely ca. 5 mm; seed margin crenellate   (9)
       
7 (6) Plants dioecious; bracts absent or ca. 5 mm; fruit cylindric, ca. 20 × 7 cm.   3 T. dafangensis
+ Plants monoecious; bracts 1-3 mm or very small or absent; fruit cylindric and 100-200 cm, or ovoid-oblong and 5-7 cm   (8)
       
8 (7) Bracts 1-3 mm; fruit cylindric, 100-200 × 3-4 cm; leaf lobes obovate.   1 T. anguina
+ Bracts absent or very small; fruit ovoid-oblong, 5-7 × 2.5-3.5 cm; leaf lobes rhombic or triangular.   2 T. cucumerina
       
9 (6) Leaves simple, leaf blade smooth on both surfaces; bract in male flower spreading, margin entire or sinuate-dentate   (10)
+ Leaves simple or 3-5-foliolate; leaf blade white punctate; bracts large, conspicuous, margin dentate   (21)
       
10 (9) Male racemes densely villous   (11)
+ Male racemes slightly hairy or villous, one peduncle 1-flowered, other bearing a raceme   (14)
       
11 (10) Leaves leathery, unlobed, leaf blade pubescent on veins.   13 T. reticulinervis
+ Leaves papery, unlobed or 3-5-lobed   (12)
       
12 (11) Leaves unlobed; seeds subovate, 10-13 × 7-8 mm, margin undulate.   11 T. kerrii
+ Leaves 3-5-lobed or deeply lobed   (13)
       
13 (12) Leaf blade abaxially densely white sericeous; male flowers solitary, densely white sericeous.   12 T. sericeifolia
+ Leaf blade abaxially densely brownish villous; male raceme densely brownish villous.   20 T. villosa
       
14 (10) Leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, subleathery or leathery, unlobed or rarely 3-lobed   (15)
+ Leaves ovate-cordate or orbicular-cordate, papery, 3-9-lobed to middle or nearly to base   (17)
       
15 (14) Leaf blade papery, base cordate; fruit oblong, 7-10 × 6-7 cm.   10 T. homophylla
+ Leaf blade subleathery or leathery   (16)
       
16 (15) Leaf blade subleathery, unlobed, base rounded; fruit globose, ca. 7 cm in diam.   8 T. smilacifolia
+ Leaf blade leathery, unlobed or shortly to deeply 2- or 3-lobed, base truncate; fruit oblong, 12-18 × 5-10 cm.   9 T. truncata
       
17 (14) Male flowers solitary, smaller than 3 cm in diam.; calyx tube narrowly campanulate.   7 T. hylonoma
+ Male flowers in raceme; flowers larger than 3 cm in diam.; calyx tube narrowly funnelform or cylindric   (18)
       
18 (17) Leaves usually 3-5(-7)-lobed   (19)
+ Leaves deeply 3-7-lobed usually up to base   (20)
       
19 (18) Bracts in male flowers ca. 3 cm, margin entire; calyx tube funnelform, ca. 3 cm, segments linear-lanceolate, 10-15 × 1.5-2.5 mm; leaves ovate-cordate.   4 T. jinggangshanica
+ Bracts in male flowers less than 2.5 cm, margin sinuate-dentate; calyx tube cylindric, dilated at apex, 20-40 × ca. 10 mm; leaves suborbicular.   5 T. kirilowii
       
20 (18) Leaf lobes rhombic; fruiting peduncle 12-16.5 cm.   6 T. mianyangensis
+ Leaf lobes linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate; fruiting peduncle 4.5-8 cm.   14 T. rosthornii
       
21 (9) Leaves 3-5-foliolate; bracts rhombic-lanceolate   (22)
+ Leaves simple; bracts broadly ovate or oblong   (23)
       
22 (21) Leaflets remotely denticulate at margin.   27 T. pedata
+ Leaflets entire at margin.   28 T. quinquefolia
       
23 (21) Flowers red, pale red, or purple   (24)
+ Flowers white   (27)
       
24 (23) Seeds ovoid, turgid.   22 T. dunniana
+ Seeds oblong or oblong-ovate, compressed   (25)
       
25 (24) Seeds oblong, truncate at both ends, ca. 18 mm; flowers purple; calyx tube ca. 2.5 cm, segments linear; fruit orange-yellow.   25 T. rugatisemina
+ Seeds oblong-ovate, 10-15 mm; flowers pale red   (26)
       
26 (25) Leaf blade deeply (3-)5(-7)-lobed; calyx tube 4-6 cm, segments ovate-lanceolate, denticulate; fruit red.   23 T. rubriflos
+ Leaf blade shortly 5-7-lobed or lobed to middle; calyx tube ca. 4 cm, segments narrowly lanceolate, entire; fruit orange-red.   24 T. subrosea
       
27 (23) Bracts entire   (28)
+ Bract margin dentate or lacerate   (29)
       
28 (27) Bracts ovate, 3.5-4.3 × ca. 2.5 cm, with 2 rows of brownish puncta beside main vein; calyx segments 2-3 cm, margin sharply 2- or 3-lobed; seeds triangular-ovate; leaves membranous, abaxially glabrous, adaxially punctate, petiole 5-11 cm.   18 T. quinquangulata
+ Bracts oblong, ca. 4 × 1-1.5 cm; calyx segments ca. 1 cm, entire; seeds subquadrangular; leaves papery, hirsute, petiole 14-17 cm.   19 T. cordata
       
29 (27) Leaves leathery   (30)
+ Leaves membranous or papery   (31)
       
30 (29) Bracts suborbicular, margin lacerate; calyx segments narrowly ovate, margin laciniate; leaves suborbicular.   17 T. lepiniana
+ Bracts obovate-oblong, margin dentate; calyx segments narrowly lanceolate, margin dentate; leaves ovate-cordate.   26 T. tricuspidata
       
31 (29) Leaves papery.   21 T. laceribractea
+ Leaves membranous   (32)
       
32 (31) Leaf blade suborbicular, deeply palmately 5-7-lobed; bract margin crenulate; calyx segments ca. 15 mm, entire.   15 T. wallichiana
+ Leaf blade orbicular-cordate or broadly ovate-cordate, unlobed or irregularly 2- or 3(-5)-lobed; bract margin lobulate with linear- lanceolate lobes; calyx segments ca. 10 mm, entire or serrate.   16 T. fissibracteata

  • List of lower taxa


     

    Related Objects  
  • Trichosanthes (PDF)
  • PDF

  • Flora of China @ efloras.org
    Browse by
    Volume
    Family
    Genera
    Advanced Search


    Flora of China Home


    Checklist

     

     

     |  eFlora Home |  People Search  |  Help  |  ActKey  |  Hu Cards  |  Glossary  |