Sicyos australis

Detailed description

Herbaceous climber; stems annual, up to 10m long, 5-mm diameter, sparsely hirsute with simple multicellular hairs and glandular hairs, glabrescent. Tendrils 3–5-branched. Leaves: petiole 10–65 mm long, scaberulous; lamina ovate or broadly ovate in outline, 35–195 × 45–200mm, cordate with the basal sinus broad, the lobes not overlapping, acuminate, shallowly to deeply palmately 5- or 7-lobed, the lobes broadly triangular, acute or acuminate, margins dentate with apiculate teeth, sparsely scaberulous adaxially and abaxially with simple hairs, more densely and coarsely along veins. Male inflorescence an 8–19-flowered raceme 25–155 mm long; peduncle 15–125 mm long, sparsely scaberulous; rhachis glandular hairy. Male flowers: pedicels 3–11 mm long; hypanthium broadly campanulate, 2.4–2.7 mm diameter; calyx lobes linear, 0.4–0.7 mm long; corolla rotate, 4.5–7.8 mm diameter, mostly glabrous abaxially, the lobe apices puberulous, glabrous adaxially, white, 5-lobed, the lobes broadly triangular–ovate, obtuse; 2.0–2.6 mm long; disc c. 1.2 mm in diameter; staminal column 1.5–1.8 mm long; staminal head 1.7–2.2 mm diameter. Female inflorescence an 8–11-flowered head; peduncle 8–33 mm long. Female flowers: subsessile; ovary ovate, attenuate, c. 3 mm long, 1.4 mm diameter, minutely and densely echinulate with barbed aculei; hypanthium above the constriction broadly campanulate, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, minutely glandular hairy surrounding the disc; calyx lobes linear, 0.4–0.7 mm long; corolla 2.5–3.5 mm diameter, mostly glabrous abaxially, the lobe apices puberulous, glabrous adaxially, white, 5-lobed, the lobes triangular–ovate, obtuse, c. 1.6mm long; disc c. 1 mm in diameter; style c. 1.4mm long; stigma 2-lobed, the lobes c. 0.3mm long, recurved. Fruit ovate, rarely fusiform, 6.4–9.5 × 2.8–4.0 mm, apically attenuate, the surface ± glabrous or scabridulous with short hairs, echinate; aculei dense, 1.6–3.6 mm long, retrorsely barbed. Seeds ellipsoidal, 4.0–5.5 × 2.8–3.4 mm brown.