Trichosanthes coriaceae
Content
Description
Climber to 10 m long, short brown hairy, partly glabrescent, leafy stem 2-4 mm diam.;
Leaves:
Fruit ripening evenly orange-red, ovoid-ellipsoid, c. 10 by 7 cm, apex shortly beaked;
Seeds brown, compressed, obovate, 13-15 by 8-9 by 1-2 mm, base cuneate, apex broadly rounded, margin c. 1.5 mm broad, edge entire.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Jawa (Jawa present); Sumatera (Sumatera present)
Malesia: Sumatra, Java (where known only from the type collection).
Taxonomy
Trichosanthes coriacea is a rare species. Only 8 collections are known, of which 7 were made in the 19th century; Laumonier TFB 2170 is the only recent one, collected in 1983, in Bukit Sebelah Nature Reserve, Sumatra.
Citation
Backer 1964 – In: Backer & Bakh.f., Fl. Java 1: 303
Rugayah 1999: Trichosanthes (Cucurbitaceae) in Malesia, thesis: 162: pl. 22
Miq. 1856 – In: Fl. Ned. Ind.: 674
Cogn. 1881 – In: A.DC. & C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 3: 355
Rugayah & W.J.de Wilde 1997 – In: Blumea: 477
Blume 1999 – In: Reinwardtia: 252