Solena umbellata - Umbelled Creeping Cucumber

Umbelled Creeping cucumber is a creeper or climber, up to 3 m, nearly hairless. Leaves are ovate or narrowly elliptic, 4–14 by 2–10 cm, entire or deeply arrow-shaped 3-lobed, above finely rough, below with scattered minute gland-hairs, base heart-shaped, tip pointed or blunt, margin remotely toothed; leaf-stalk 4-11 mm long. Probract absent. Male flower-clusters are nearly stalkless or stalk up to 7 mm, condensed, few- or many-flowered almost-umbellate racemes up to 1 cm long. Male flowers: flower-stalks are 2-8 mm long, bracts carnose, round, narrowly-ellipsoid, 1-2 mm long, persistent. Flowers are tiny, white, with a sepal tube 3-5 by 2-4 mm, virtually covering the flowers. Sepals are just triangular teeth 0.1-0.2 mm long. Petals are triangular, 1-1.2 mm long, hairy; filaments 2.5-4 mm long. Female flowers are borne singly, and have flower-stalk 5-10 mm long; ovary hairless. Fruit is solitary at the node, narrowly-ellipsoid, 3-7 by 1.5-3 cm, at both ends narrowed (pointed, not narrowed into a beak), hairless, smooth, slightly angled; when dry yellowish, with about 9 faint ribs, when ripe red; fruiting flower-stalk 1-1.5 cm long. Umbelled creeping cucumber is found in South India and Sri Lanka, in thickets, roadsides, at altitude of 0–1500 m. Flowering: all year.