小雀瓜 xiao que gua

Momordica pedata Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1009. 1753.

Plants annual. Stem robust, multibranched, glabrous. Petiole 5-15 cm; leaf blade 5-pedatisect, leaflets elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, median leaflet 7-16 × 2-6 cm, base cuneate, margin dentate, apex acuminate; lateral leaflets 5-14 × 2-4 cm. Tendrils 2-fid. Male flowers in a panicle; peduncle 10-23 cm, 20-50-flowered; pedicels filiform, 4-10 mm; calyx tube cupular, ca. 2 × 3-4 mm; segments linear, ca. 2 mm; corolla yellow; segments ovate-triangular, 1.5-2 × 2-2.5 mm, puberulent; filaments connate; anthers circular, 1.5-2 mm. Female flowers: calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary 2-3 mm; style 0.5-0.7 mm. Fruit narrowly oblong to narrowly elliptic, 5-7 × 2.5-3 cm, setose, apex acuminate, 8-10-seeded. Seeds black, suboblong, 10-12 × 7-8 mm, margin dentate. Fl. and fr. May-Oct.

Cultivated. Xizang, Yunnan [cultivated in tropics of New and Old Worlds, not known wild].

The fruit is used as a vegetable.