趾叶栝楼 zhi ye gua lou

Trichosanthes pedata var. yunnanensis C. Y. Cheng & C. H. Yueh.

Stem slender, striate, grooved, glabrous or pubescent at nodes. Leaves 3-5-foliolate; petiole 2.5-6 cm; leaflets abaxially pale green, lanceolate or oblong-oblanceolate, 9-12 × 2.5-3.5 cm, membranous, abaxially glabrous, adaxially hispidulous or white punctate, remotely denticulate, acuminate; petiolule 2-5(-11) mm. Male raceme 14-19 cm; peduncle and pedicels brown pubescent; bracts obovate or rhombic-ovate, 1-1.5 × ca. 0.8 cm, pubescent, margin entire or dentate, apex acuminate. Female flowers solitary; calyx tube cylindric, ca. 3 × 5 cm; ovary ovoid, ca. 1.5 × 0.8 cm, glabrous. Fruiting peduncle 1(-3) cm; fruit orange-yellow, globose, 5-6 cm, smooth. Seeds brown, ovoid, tumid, 1-1.2 × ca. 0.8 cm, base triangular, apex rounded. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Dec. 2n = 22.

Open forests along valleys, thickets; 200-1500 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan [Vietnam].