Herpetospermum pedunculosum (Ser.) C. B. Clarke

Himalaya (Kulu to Bhutan), S. Tibet, Assam, S.W. China.

1500-3600 m

Flowering and fruiting from June to October.

Herpetospermum pedunculosum is occurring in Xizang, Yunnan of China, India, Nepal.

Annual scandent herbs; stem and branches slender, puberulent at first. Petiole 4-8 cm; leaf blade membranous, ovate-cordate, 6-12 cm long, 4-9 cm wide, apex caudate-acuminate, margin dentate, base cordate, both surfaces scabrous, yellow-brown pubescent at first. Flowers dioecious. Male flowers: usually in a raceme or solitary, inflorescence 12-40 cm, 5-10-flowered, puberulent; calyx-tube 20-25 cm, apex 8-9 mm in diameter, segments linear, 8-9 mm; corolla yellow, segments elliptic, 20-22 mm long, 12-15 mm wide; filaments 2-3 mm, anthers 5-6 mm; rudimentary ovary subulate, 4-5 mm. Female flowers: calyx-tube narrowly tubular, ca. 15 mm, densely yellow-pubescent, segments linear, ca. 9 mm, corolla-segments oblong, 20-25 mm long, 15-20 mm wide; ovary oblong-ovate, densely yellow-hispid. Fruit broadly oblong, 3-valved to base, fibrous, 7-8 cm long, 3-4 cm wide. Seeds pale gray, oblong, base truncate, ca. 12-5 mm long, 2-3 mm thick.

Growing in thickets and forest edges on mountain slopes; 2300-2500 m.