Botanical Name - Trichosanthes scabra Lour.


Group:

1 Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) - I - Dicotyledons

Family:

Cucurbitaceae

Genus:

Trichosanthes

Common sinhala name:

Kaak Gedi

Habit:

Creeper

Origin:

Native

National conservation status:

VU-Vulnerable

Legal status:

Not protected

Similar species:

All vernacular names:

Kaak gedi, Kaak wel (Sinhala)

Trichosanthes scabra Lour.

Contributors for Images:

FlowerSL (ID-PMR), Sriyan Senaratne (ID-PMR), Jecob de Vlas (ID-JdV) - IDA 100%

Annual herb, largely creeping. Stems much branched, angular, dark- to pale-brown hairy, density dependent on age of plant. Leaves long-petiolate; lamina (3.5—)7—9.5 x (3—)6—9(—l1) cm, subcircular to reniform in outline, deeply cordate with usually wide sinus, barely to shallowly lobed, or deeply lobed on same plant, lobes rounded, obtuse, subentire to denticulate, scabrid, shortly hispid above, subdensely short-pubescent beneath; petiole 3—5 cm long, hairy. Flowers solitary, or occasionally 2 in each axil, white. pedunculate, corolla not fimbriate. Male flowers: peduncles 5—12 cm long, densely hairy, calyx-tube c. 1.5 cm long, lobes up to 1.5 cm long, c. 1—1.5 mm wide, linear entire to minutely lobed towards base, whole calyx densely hairy, corolla limb 2 x 1.5 cm, broadly obovate, markedly veined, hairy without, claw to c. 0.75 cm long. Female flowers: similar to male but peduncles shorter, 1—3.5(—5) cm long. Fruit 3 cm diameter, globose, smooth, ripening orange to red. Seeds 7—8 x 2—3 mm, ellipsoid, dark green. (FOC)
Gymnopetalum integrifolium (Roxb.) Kurz


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