Ctenolepis cerasiformis

Ctenolepis cerasiformis (Stocks) Hook. fil., Fl. Trop. Afr. 2: 558 1871. (syn: Blastania cerasiformis (Stocks) Meeuse; Blastania fimbristipula Ky. & Peyr.; Bryonia fimbristipula Fenzl ex Hook. fil.; Ctenolepis cerasiformis (Stocks) Naudin; Ctenopsis cerasiformis Naud.; Melothria fimbristipula (Kotschy & Peyr.) Roberty; Pilogyne cerasiformis Stocks ex Aitch.; Zehneria cerasiformis Stocks);

Distribution: Global: Old World tropics. In India: Gujarat as per Renner SS, Pandey AK (2013) The Cucurbitaceae of India: Accepted names, synonyms, geographic distribution, and information on images and DNA sequences PhytoKeys 20: 53–118;

Saudi Arabia (Asir), Yemen (Tihama, W-Yemen), Pakistan (Karachi, Sind), South Africa (Limpopo), Namibia, Botswana, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, S-Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Cameroon, Benin, Angola, USA (I) (Maryland (I)) as per Catalogue of Life;

Blastania cerasiformis : 10 posts by 5 authors. Attachments (14)

Not represented in EFI as yet.

An annual, monsoon vine.

Palmately lobed rough leaves, really tiny flowers, it seems many male and a single female flower are borne on a short peduncle emerging out of leaf axil. Fruit is sperical, about 1.5 cm diameter, mottled green, red on ripening. Contains two round seeds having a concave and a convex surface. Most Eye-catching feature is stipule /bract about 1.5 to 3 cm diameter, orbicular to ovate with long frilly margin giving appearance of Eyelid ….fruit usually nestled in bract!

Month of October. Surat, Gujarat. Wherever is wild vegetation in Surat, it is there, usually riding on nearby bushes, walls, poles!

(Ripe fruit I shall upload later).

Thanks, … How is it different from another species Ctenolepis garcinii, widely distributed in India ?

In spherical fruit, … In B. garcinii fruit is rather egg shaped (described as sub-reniform).

Blastania garcinii, Blastania cerasiformis and Dactyliandra welwitschii…all three occur in Gujarat… ,

B. cerasiformis in South Gujarat, B. garcinii and D. welwitschii in Kutchh … all three have large oval fimbriate bract looking like eyelids, that is why common vernacular name is “Ankhphutamani“. Shapes of fruits and seeds are important parameters for diagnosis of species.

2 images:

Fruits in stages of ripening.
Fruits are spherical, less than 1.5 cm in diameter