Trichosanthes costata - Ribbed Orange Gourd

Ribbed Orange Gourd is a perennial climbing herb. Stem and branches are slender, hairy or not. Leaf-stalks is 2-4 cm, blade ovate-heart-shaped, 4-8 x 4-8 cm, membranous, 5-angular or 3-5-lobed, middle lobe larger, triangular, both surfaces rough, tip long-pointed. Male flowers are borne solitary, or 3-8 in a raceme; peduncle slender, 10-15 cm; bracts leaflike, 1-2.5 cm, yellow-brown villous, 3-lobed; calyx tube tubular, elongate, about 2 cm; segments linear, about 7 mm; corolla white; segments oblong-ovate, 15-20 x 10-12 mm, villous; filaments ca. 0.5 mm; anthers ca. 7 mm. Female flowers are borne solitary; stalks 1-4 cm; ovary oblong, 10-12 x ca. 5 mm, yellow-brown villous, acute at both ends; style 5-8 mm; stigmas 3. Fruit is orange, oblong-ovoid, 4-5 cm, smooth, 10-ribbed, pointyed at both ends. Seeds are oblong, about 7 x 3-3.5 mm, both ends blunt. Ribbed Orange Gourd is found in Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam. Flowering: July-September.