薄叶栝楼 bao ye gua lou

Involucraria wallichiana Seringe, Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 3(1): 25. 1825; Trichosanthes bracteata (Lamarck) Voigt var. scotanthus (C. B. Clarke) Handel-Mazzetti; T. grandibracteata Kurz; T. palmata Roxburgh var. scotanthus C. B. Clarke.

Stems branched, angular-grooved, glabrous. Petiole robust, 6-10 cm, striate, puberulent; leaf blade suborbicular, 18-20 × 18-20 cm, membranous or papery, deeply (nearly to base) palmately 5-7-lobed; lobes oblong, abaxially glabrous or slightly hairy on veins, adaxially glandular punctate and very rough, margin denticulate or irregularly crenate-dentate, apex acute or acuminate. Male raceme 6-15-flowered at apex; peduncle stout, 10-20(-30) cm, grooved, puberulent; bracts broadly ovate, 2-3 cm, crenulate, slightly puberulent, multiveined; calyx tube ca. 5 × 1 cm; segments ca. 1.5 × 0.4 cm, entire. Female flowers solitary; ovary ovoid-oblong, glabrous. Fruit ovoid or oblong, 5-10 × ca. 7 cm, apex acute or subacute. Seeds brown, oblong, 1.5-1.8 × 0.8-1.2 cm. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Oct-Nov.

Forests along valleys; 900-2200 m. Xizang, S Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Nepal].