Trochomeria macrocarpa
| Family: | Curcurbitaceae |
| Full name: | Trochomeria macrocarpa (Sond.) Hook.f. |
| Location: | Kyffhäuser (2416AD + 2416CB) |
| ID status: | ID not 100% certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Bobbejaankomkommer |
| English common name(s): | - |
| Synonym(s): | Trochomeria macrocarpa (Sond.) Hook.f. subsp. macrocarpa Trochomeria macrocarpa (Sond.) Hook.f. Trochomeria nudiflora Burtt Davy Trochomeria atacorensis A.Chev. (1920) Trochomeria dalzielii Hutch. Trochomeria macroura Hook.f. Trochomeria dentata Cogn. ex Harms (1923) Fl. Cameroun 6 (1967): "echantillons détruits" Trochomeria djurensis Schweinf. & Gilg (1904) Trochomeria harmsiana Bullock (1932) Trochomeria longipetala A.Zimm. (1922) Trochomeria verdickii De Wild. (1909) |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Perennial climbing or trailing herb to 2.5 m; stems arising from a fleshy underground tuber or from gnarled perennial fibrous stems arising therefrom, glabrous or slightly hairy, leafy or sometimes with the leaves very small and underdeveloped, like the leaves turning black when dried. Leaf-blade ovate-acuminate- to broadly ovate-cordate or sometimes hastate in outline, entire or sinuate-toothed, glabrous, scabrid-hairy or scabrid-punctate above, scabrid-hairy on the margins and on the nerves beneath, 18–95 mm long, 24–98 mm broad, unlobed or very variously palmately 3–5-lobed; lobes ovate-triangular, elliptic, lanceolate, or linear in outline, often sharply toothed or 2–3-lobulate, acute, acuminate and apiculate, with the middle lobe the largest; petiole glabrous or obscurely hispid-hairy, 5–24 mm long. Stipuliform bracts absent or when present suborbicular, 3–13 mm long, 2–16 mm broad, ciliate-toothed with teeth 2–6 mm long. Male flowers solitary or paired, or, especially on leafless branches, in very long lax fascicles of up to 13 flowers; inflorescences 24–160 mm long; peduncles of fascicles 14–105 mm long; pedicels 6–115 mm long; receptacle-tube narrowly obconic-cylindrical, 13–24 mm long; lobes triangular, 1–3 mm long; petals usually 5, linear-lanceolate, green, greenish-yellow or very pale lemon-yellow, sometimes with a reddish tinge, 10–55 mm long, 1.5–3 mm broad, acute, reflexed or spreading. Female flowers solitary (rarely paired), on 3–18 mm long stalks; ovary ovoid, beaked, 7–13 mm long, 1.5–4 mm across; receptacle-tube cylindrical, 13–20 mm long; lobes very small; petals as in male, 13–31 mm long, 1–2.5 mm broad. Fruit on a 5–40 mm long stalk, ellipsoid to subglobose, rounded or somewhat beaked apically, scarlet, 28–60 mm long, 19–31 mm across. Seeds ovoid, smooth, rounded, tumid, 8–11 x 5.5–6.5 x 4–4.5 mm, enclosed in pockets of whitish jelly; testa hard, whitish. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical East Africa) Pubescent-pilose with rather soft hairs; stem sparingly pilose. Leaves very variable, without white papillæ when dry, pubescent on both surfaces; petioles short. Peduncles 1–3 in. long, very slender, 1–3-flowered; pedicels capillary. Flowers yellow. Calyx-tube 0.5 in. long, 0.125 in. diameter. Corolla-lobes subulate, as long as the calyx-tube. Anthers with papillose tips. Fruit fleshy, oblong, 1.5–2 in. long, beaked. Seeds ovoid, compressed, nearly 0.333 in. long, testa very thick. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical Africa) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Photographer: | AA Dreyer |
| Date of photograph: | 13 Dec 2008 |
| Camera make: | Canon |
| Camera model: | PowerShot A700 |
| Lens aperture: | f/3.5 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/60 s |
| ISO speed: | - |
| Content last updated: | 01 Jun 2020 |
