Cardiospermum halicacabum var. microcarpum

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Cardiospermum halicacabum var. microcarpum

Description

Herbaceous vine to 2 m long, with multiple annual branches from a semi-woody base; branches angled, 5-ribbed, glabrous or puberulous. Stipules lanceolate, ca. 5 mm long. Leaves biternate; petioles 2-3 cm long, unwinged; leaflets chartaceous, ovate or oblong, with obtuse, acute or acuminate apex and tapering base, the margins deeply lobed or dissected. Thyrses axillary, shorter than the subtending leaves, bearing a pair of tendrils at base of rachis. Calyx of 5 unequal, rounded, greenish sepals; petals 2-3 mm long, the appendage with a fleshy, yellow crest; stamens 8, the filaments pubescent. Capsule turbinate-trigonous, ca. 1 × 2 cm, turning from green to straw colored, with one seed per loculeSeeds spherical, 3.4-4.5 mm, black, with a whitecordate hilum.

Distribution

temperate areas cultivated, tropics and subtropics present
Elsewhere in the tropics and subtropics as a weed, cultivated as an ornamental in temperate areas (GU: 3; SU: 2; FG: 1).