Solena amplexicaulis (Lam.) Gandhi, Fl. Hassan District 179 1976. (syn: Bryonia amplexicaulis Lam.; Karivia amplexicaulis (Lam.) Arn.; Melothria amplexicaulis (Lam.) Cogn. in A. & C. DC.) as per The Cucurbitaceae of India;
.

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/cucurbitaceae_unknown_young%20fruits%20and%20backside%20of%20leaves.jpg
Identification of Cucurbitaceae member : 10 posts by 5 authors. Attachments (5)

Pl help me to identify the attached specimens. The plant is glabrous. Tendril unbranched. Monoecious. Young fruit has striations. Fruit pointed at the tip. Seeds 3-4 times bigger than that of Kedrostis foetidissima.
I presume may be Kedrostis sp.


I attach here with the photo of Seeds


The fruit appears like that of Kedrostis. But, in Kedrostis foetidissima, the leaves and fruits are ‘villous-hirsute’ as per the description at http://florakarnataka.ces.iisc.ernet.in/hjcb2/herbsheet.php?id=1305&cat=1 (the photographs in this link, however, look like Corallocarpus epigaeus to me).
But the plant in the posted pictures seems to be glabrous.
Could it be a Solena sp.?

Sir it is Corallocarpa epigaeus


This might be Solena amplexicaulis (Lam.) Gandhi.


It is Solena amplexicaulis (Lam.) Gandhi (= Bryonia amplexicaulis Lam., Solena heterophylla Lour., Bryonia umbellata Klein, Melothria amplexicaulis (Lam.) Cogn. Melothria heterophylla (Lour.) Cogn.)

Karool chakka in malayalam in kasargod and Kannur region in kerala. In young stage the raw fruits are edible. We used to eat it. now a days it not all available in and around. it is a tuberous plant.


Unique fruits.


.


Images of Solena amplexicaulis in FOI should be of Solena heterophylla Lour.
as per Solena heterophylla Lour. & as per comparative images at Solena in efi based on the following:
REVIEW OF THE GENUS SOLENA (CUCURBITACEAE)–  W.J.J.O. DE WILDE & B.E.E. DUYFJES- BLUMEA 49: 69–81 (2004) 
The Cucurbitaceae of India: Accepted names, synonyms, geographic distribution, and information on images and DNA sequences by Susanne S. Renner, Arun K. Pandey. (2013)

Thanks for informing about the important update. The correction has been made:
Flowers of India
You may have to refresh your browser cache to see the changed page.


Thanks … for reminding of this correction; I have revised my notes in my flickr account. I am sending a separate post related to compilation of this plant’s regional names.


Coming back to this old thread, I had made the correction back then.

However, just wanted to point out that the abstract of the paper you pointed out, says:
 “The genus Solena Lour. is redefined, and its 3 species and 1 subspecies are keyed out and described:
S. amplexicaulis occurs in S India, S. heterophylla, with 2 subspecies is widespread, but does not occur in S India …”
Based on this, Dinesh’s images from Maharashtra, which are also on FOI, should belong to Solena amplexicaulis.

Going by the fruit shape it should be
https://efloraofindia.com/2016/07/26/solena-umbellata/
Pl. see attached publication for fruit shapes.
1 attachment


Thanks, … for attaching the publication; thanks … for resurfacing the old post.
The first two photos showing flowers belong to observation dtd. July 11, 2010, …will revise the ID to S. amplexicaulis.
… while the one showing the ridged fruit belongs to another,observation of July 14, 2012 which by now has been validated as Solena heterophylla by Prof. Dr. Hanno Schaefer and Radha Veach. Going through the publication attached by Garg ji does tell me that it ought to be Solena umbellata.
As of now, I do have one validated observation of Solena umbellata.

“The first two photos showing flowers belong to observation dtd. July 11, 2010, …will revise the ID to S. amplexicaulis.”- Difficult to say without fruits. Only one observation so far in efi as per
https://efloraofindia.com/2016/02/17/solena-amplexicaulis/ (Also it is found in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala as per https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/1454/)


I updated the fruit image on FOI:

PS: You may still see the old image from your browser cache unless it is refreshed.


I still see the same images.
I don’t agree with the id. Pl. see
https://efloraofindia.com/2016/02/17/solena-amplexicaulis/ (only one observation so far in our site- see the typical fruit). (Distribution is restricted to Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala only).
We should keep these images as
https://efloraofindia.com/2016/07/26/solena-umbellata/ only.


I just saw the fruit image of … added on the page (https://www.flowersofindia.net/Creeping%20Cucumber.html), while … images remain the same (which is most likely to be S.umbellata). So it is better if, even the images of leaves and immature fruits are put on the FOI page, deleting … images.


Since we do not have an image of the fruits in this observation, we have to sort it out on the basis of other features. Finally I got time to have a closer look at … Solena images, and go through the paper of Wilde & Duyfjes. My summary is as follows:
                                    S. amplexicaulis                S. umbellata
                                    —————————————————–
Male peduncle:              1-2 cm                             0-7 mm
Male bracts:                    absent or 1-2 mm,          1-2 mm long,
                                        falling off                         persistent
Flower size:                     3-4 mm                           3-5 mm
Flower-stalk:                    2-5 mm                           2-8 mm
                                    —————————————————–
1. Flower-clusters of Dinesh’s plant are clearly stalkless. In S. amplexicaulis they are 1-2 cm – much longer than the flower length of 3-4 mm.
2. In S. amplexicaulis the bracts are absent or fall off. Dinesh’s plant does show bracts.
3. My earlier comment regarding flowers being mostly hairless in S. amplexicaulis is irrelevant because in these flowers the sepal-cup covers most of the flower, with only the tiny petals peeping out at the tip.

By virtue of stalkless flower-clusters and persistent bracts, I think … plant should be Solena umbellata. … already thought it was likely to be S. umbellata.


Thanks, …, for the much deeper analysis.


 


.

References:
The Cucurbitaceae of India 

Review of the Genus Solena (Cucurbitaceae) Authors: Wilde, W.J.J.O. De; Duyfjes, B.E.E. Source: Blumea – Biodiversity, Evolution and Biogeography of Plants, Volume 49, Number 1, May 2004 , pp. 69-81(13)