茅瓜属 mao gua shu

Authors: Anmin Lu & Charles Jeffrey

Herbs, scandent, perennial. Roots tuberous. Stem and branches slender, subglabrous. Tendrils simple, glabrous. Petiole very short or almost obsolete; leaf blade polymorphic, very variable, base cordate or hastate. Plants dioecious or monoecious. Male flowers in umbelliform or cymose inflorescence; calyx tube campanulate; segments 5, ± subulate; corolla yellow or yellow-white; segments triangular; stamens 3, two 2-celled, one 1-celled; filaments short; anthers oblong; anther cells conduplicate or curved. Female flowers solitary; ovary oblong; ovules few, horizontal; staminodes 3. Fruit oblong or ovoid, indehiscent. Seeds few, globose.

Three species: S and SE Asia; one species in China.

Lower Taxa

• Solena heterophylla Loureiro
• Solena heterophylla subsp. heterophylla
• Solena heterophylla subsp. napaulensis (Seringe) W. J. de Wilde & Duyfjes