心叶栝楼 xin ye gua lou

Involucraria cordata (Roxburgh) Roemer; Trichosanthes microsiphon Kurz.

Stem robust, angular, grooved, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. Petiole 14-17 cm, striate, sparsely puberulent; leaf blade broadly ovate-cordate, 8-22 × 7-23 cm, papery, unlobed or rarely angular-sublobate, both surfaces scattered shortly hirsute, margin minutely denticulate, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Male raceme 4-8-flowered; peduncle 12-20 cm, stout, striate, sparsely puberulent; pedicels 1-2 mm, thick; bracts oblong, ca. 4 × 1-1.5 cm, entire, shortly hirsute; calyx tube attenuate from apex toward base, ca. 4.5 × 0.7 cm; segments erect or flexuous, linear-lanceolate, ca. 1.5 cm. Female flower solitary; pedicel ca. 1 cm; ovary oblong, slightly puberulent. Fruit red, globose, smooth. Seeds subquadrangular, 1-1.2 × 0.4-0.5 cm. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests; ca. 1000 m. SE Xizang [Bhutan, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore].