Trichosanthes leuserensis
Description
Climber, 10-20 m long, glabrous (minute powdery hairs on growing shoots excepted), leafy stem 3-6 mm diam.;
Leaves:
Fruit ripening orange, with or without whitish greenish stripes, subglobose, 6.5-8 by 5-7.5 cm, apex c. 2 mm beaked;
Seeds dark brown, ± compressed, (narrowly) elliptic, base and apex broadly rounded, 15-18 by 8-10 by 3-4 mm, margin absent, edge entire.
Distribution
Aceh present, Asia-Tropical: Sumatera (Sumatera present), Ketambe present, Kluet present, North Sumatra present, Sibolangit present
Malesia: Sumatra: Aceh (Kluet, Ketambe); North Sumatra (Sibolangit).
Morphology
1 Trichosanthes leuserensis is similar to T. pubera; the latter is dioecious, and differs in reddish tinged shoots, a much more elongated probract, leaves hairy beneath, and ellipsoid (not subglobose) fruits always at the nodes, generally with a less thick pericarp, and smaller and compressed seeds.
2 Trichosanthes leuserensis is probably entirely or mostly monoecious, because the collections contain male and fruiting (or female flowering) elements, although the fruit is sometimes mounted detached on the sheets.