Schizopepon bicirrhosus (C.B. Clarke) C. Jeffrey, Kew Bull. 34: 802 (1980) (syn: Melothria bicirrhosa C. B. Clarke; Schizopepon wardii Chakr.);
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S-Tibet, N-India, Myanmar [Burma], Assam, Bhutan as per Catalogue of Life;
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E. Himalaya to S. Tibet and Myanmar as per POWO;
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SK 2854 01 January 2021 – Cucurbitaceae
8 images.
I could not get any idea as to the genus as per comparative images at Cucurbitaceae
May I request somebody to pl. help.
The three-parted capsule reminds me of Ipomoea
It is not Ipomoea sp.
To me it looks Marah species/ echincystys or its nearest ally
Just s guess. Can it be some Cyclanthera sp. ?
pattern of the fruits. May be some newly introduced species. Kindly
compare with all the species given at POWO or some other international
database.
Very nice photographs!
This is a female plant of Schizopepon in Cucurbitaceae.
The 3-valved conical fruit, bifid tendrils and dioecious sex system are typical.
The genus name points to the conspicuous dehiscent (splitting) fruits. Chakravarty (1959) describes the fruit as “trivalved from apex to base, valve involute and elastically dehiscing the seeds”.
To identify the species, I would need a herbarium specimen, it’s difficult from photographs… maybe Schizopepon bicirrhosus (C.B. Clarke) C. Jeffrey.
You are welcome – I am always happy to see cucurbit pics.
Do you think I can use one of these Schizopepon photographs for the Cucurbitaceae website (www.cucurbit.de)? (Of course I would indicate the photographer’s name.)
I have no good fruit pictures of Schizopepon so far and it would help others with identification.
It is ok to use the image. Credit should be given to Mr. Basu dev Neupane, Nepal.
Great – thank you very much!
The fruit on the photographs is conical and not rounded. This is why I think it is probably Schizopepon bicirrhosus and not S. bryoniifolius.
See the key to the species here:
http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/PDF/PDF19/Schizopepon.pdf
Some images of dry fruits shot today by … ! Would it help to validate ID …?
4 images.
And it is not yet recorded for Nepal, is it … ?
Thank you!
Yes, I think we can be sure that it is Schizopepon bicirrhosus (C.B. Clarke) C. Jeffrey.
Based on the determination key for the genus by Lu An-Ming and Charles Jeffrey, the only species with a conical fruit are S. bicirrhosus, S. xizangensis and S. bomiensis.
Of those three species, S. xizangensis and S. bomiensis have 5-lobed leaves, while the leaf of S. bicirrhosus is described as “irregularly dentate, apex caudate-acuminate”, which fits nicely your plant. Further, the fruit of S. bomiensis is described as glabrous, while the one of S. bicirrhosus is white pubescent (and this can be seen on your pictures).
In the key, they report S. bicirrhosus from N India (I guess Assam & Sikkim), Bhutan, Tibet and Myanmar. So Nepal makes definitely sense.
According to the checklist of the flora of Nepal, the genus Schizopepon has not yet been found in the country: http://www.efloras.org/browse.aspx?flora_id=110&start_taxon_id=10233
But I am not sure if this is true. If you want, I can ask my colleague Mark Watson at Botanical Garden Edinburg in Scotland, who works on a Flora of Nepal and should know the answer.
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References: POWO Catalogue of Life The Plant List Ver.1.1 Tropicos IPNI GBIF Flora of China FOC illustration IBIS Flora (FBI) Further Notes on Cucurbitaceae: V: The Cucurbitaceae of the Indian Subcontinent– C. Jeffrey- Kew Bulletin Vol. 34, No. 4 (1980), pp. 789-809
The Cucurbitaceae of India: Accepted names, synonyms, geographic distribution, and information on images and DNA sequences March 2013 PhytoKeys 20(20):53-118
