Habit : An annual, monoecious climber with tendrils 2-3 fid.
Leaves : Orbicular-reniform, or broadly ovate, dentate, hairy, deeply 3-5 lobed, base cordate.
Flowers :
Male flowers in axillary racemes, bearing 8-15 flowers at the apex on a long peduncle.
Calyx-tube dilated at the apex, teeth triangular.
Petals 5, white, lanceolate-oblong, fimbriate.
Stamens 3, inserted on the calyx-tube, filaments short, anthers almost included, usually connate one 1-celled, the others 2-celled, the cells conduplicate.
Female flowers axillary, solitary or a female flower in the same axile as the male peduncle. Calyx ad corolla as in male.
Ovary inferior, ovoid, 1-celled, ovules horizontal, many on 3 parietal placentas, styles slender, stigma 3.
Fruits : A pepo, ovoid-fusiform, green and striped with white when immature, scarlet when ripe, seeds embedded in red pulp.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : July - September
Significance :
Common in hedges.
The leaves, roots and seeds used medicinally in bronchitis and as cardiac tonic.