曲莲 qu lian

Tuber oblate-spheroid. Stem and branchlets very slender. Tendrils 8-12 cm. Leaves pedately 5-9-foliolate; petiole 2-4 cm; leaflets lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, median leaflets 4-5 × 1-1.5 cm. Male flowers dichotomously cymose; peduncle slightly flexuous, 5-15 cm; calyx segments 5, ovate-triangular, 4-5 × ca. 2 mm; corolla pale yellow to pale yellow-green, rotate, 10-12 mm in diam.; segments spreading, broadly obovate, 5-6 × 4-5 mm; filaments ca. 2 mm, exserted. Female flowers in simple dichotomously cymose inflorescence, larger than male flowers, 11-12(-15) mm in diam.; ovary subglobose, 4-5 mm. Fruit spheroid, 12-20 mm; fruiting pedicel filiform, 2-3 mm. Seeds dark brown, broadly ovate-orbicular, 6-8 × 5-7 mm, 3-4 mm thick, unwinged. Fl. Jun-Oct, fr. Aug-Nov. 2n = 28*.

● Forests; 1800-3000 m. SW Sichuan, C and W Yunnan.