Trichosanthes L., Sp. Pl. 1008. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5. 439. 1754; Benth. & Hook. f., Gen. Pl. 1: 821. 1857; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 606. 1879; Cogn. in A. & C. DC., Monogr. Phan. 3: 351. 1881; Chakravarty, Monogr. Ind. Cucubit. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 17(1): 28. 1959; Hutch., Gen. Fl. Pl.: 407. 1967; Huang & Jaffery, Fl. China in eFloras.org vol. 19: 36; Nazim. & Naqvi Fl. Pak in eFloras.org p. 50.

Annual or perennial climbing herbs, dioecious or monoecious; tendrils 2-5-fid or simple. Leaf blade simple or palmately 3-5(-9)-lobed, cordate at base, margins usually denticulate. Flowers unisexual, actinomorphic, epigynous, usually white, bracteate or ebracteate. Male flowers usually in racemes, rarely in axillary pairs, one 1-flowered, caducous, other bearing a raceme; female flowers solitary. MALE FLOWERS: Calyx tube oblong-cylindrical, expanded above, 5-lobed, lobes lanceolate, entire or serrate. Corolla deeply 5-lobed, rotate, lobes oblong or lanceolate, fimbriate. Stamens 3, inserted on calyx tube; filaments very short, free; anthers connate, two 2- celled, other 1- celled, cells conduplicate. FEMALE FLOWERS: Calyx and corolla as in male flowers. Ovary inferior, ovoid or fusiform, 1-locular with 3 parietal placentas; ovules usually many, horizontal or semi-pendulous; style slender; stigmas 3, entire or bifid; staminodes 3, filiform. Fruit oblong, ovoid-globose or fusiform, large, indehiscent, usually glabrous and smooth, many seeded. Seeds ellipsoid or oblong, packed in pulp.

103 species

Trichosanthes cucumerina L., Sp. Pl. 1008. 1753; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 609. 1879; Cogn. in A. & C. DC., Monogr. Phan. 3: 357. 1881; Chakravarty, Monogr. Ind. Cucubit. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 17(1): 31. 1959; Jeffrey, Kew Bull. 34: 796. 1980; Chakravarty, Fasc. Fl. Ind. 11: 112. 1982; Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu (Illustr.) 2: t. 101. 1983; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 314. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 341. 2006; keralaplants.in; Huang & Jeffery, Fl. China @eFloras.org 19:38; Nazim. & Naqvi, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 52 (as Trichosanthes cucumerina var. cucumerina); Huang & Jeffrey, Fl. China @ eFloras.org vol. 19: 38.

** It is a wild species. Based on its fruit shape and size, this taxon is T. cucumerina var. cucumerina. The cultivated variety (Snake Gourd) of this species is T. cucumerina var. anguina (L.) Haine, Bot. Bihar & Orissa 388. 1922. Its fruits are eaten as vegetable.

Plants annual, climber. Stem slender, sulcate, profusely branched, pubescent and setose. Tendrils 2-3-fid, channelled. Leaf blade orbicular, reniform or broadly ovate, (4)7-15 cm x 8-11 cm, membranous, +/- deeply 5-7-lobed, lobes triangular or rhombic, margin remotely dentate, leaf base cordate, apex acute, densely hairy; petiole 3-4 cm long, puberulous and setose. Plants monoecious. MALE FLOWERS: Male peduncles in pairs, earlier 1-flowered, later bearing a raceme; raceme few flowered; peduncle slender, puberulent; pedicel erect, 0.5-1.5 cm, jointed at top; bracts absent or very small. Calyx 2-2.5 cm long, cylindric, somewhat dilated at apex; lobes 5, small, lanceolate, acute. Corolla white, rotate, deeply 5-lobed, lobes oblong or oblong-lanceolate, fimbriate. Stamens 3, inserted on calyx tube, filaments very short, ca. 2 mm long; anthers connate, two 2-celled, one 1-celled, thecae conduplicate; anthers +/- 3 mm long. Pistillodes absent. FEMALE FLOWERS: Solitary or sometimes replacing earlier male flowers. Calyx and corolla as in male flowers. Tricarpellary, syncarpous, ovary oblong or oblong-ovoid, unilocular with 3 parietal placentas, ovules many; style slender; stigmas 3, entire or bifid. Fruit ovoid-oblong to fusiform, beaked, orange red when ripe, glabrous, 3-7 cm x 2.5-4.0 cm, with 7-10 seeds. Seeds ovate-oblong, 9-12 mm x 5-6 mm, compressed.

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