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Trichosanthes kirilowii

Botanic Family

Cucurbitaceae

Author

Maximowicz

Common Names

• Gua lou (Pinyin)
• Cây dây bac bat (Vietnam)
• Chinese Cucumber
• Chinese Snakegourd
• Gua-lou Tian-hua-fen (China)

Geographical Habitats

• Gansu
• Hebei
• Henan
• Jiangsu
• Jiangxi
• Shandong
• Shanxi
• Zhejiang - China
• Japan
• Korea
• Laos
• Mongolia
• Vietnam

Natural Habitats

• Forest
• bushland
• shrubland
• grassland
• fields

Flowering Times

• May-Aug (China)

Fruiting Times

• Aug-Oct (China)

Herbaceous 2-5 branched tendril vine with tuberous root. Dentate or 3-7-lobed leaves to 120mm diameter with white spots & scabrous above, glabrous both surfaces, lobe mucronate on lobules. 15mm flowers, axillary male solitary white flowers or racemes to 200mm with toothed villous bracts to 25mm long, tubular calyx 10mm across with 5 lobes to 12mm long, 5 villous petals to 25mm long, fringed at apex, female flowers solitary. 70mm x 105mm orange-red or yellow-brown fruits.

Further References

• Huxley 1992
• FOC
• The Plant List 2
• F Indochine
• Wiart 2