昆明雪胆 kun ming xue dan

Tuber enlarged, ovoid. Stem slender, tomentose when young but smooth when older. Tendril glabrous, distally 2-fid. Leaves pedately 7-9-foliolate; petiole 2-4 cm; leaflets lanceolate to oblong; median leaflets 6-12 × 1-1.5 cm; petiolule 2-4 mm. Plants dioecious. Inflorescence dichasial, 5-30 cm, 10-30-flowered; pedicels 5-10 mm. Male flowers: calyx segments broadly triangular, 3-5 mm, revolute, shortly cuspidate at apex; corolla yellowish green, laxly patelliform, 3-5 mm in diam., herbaceous; segments elliptic, 3-5 mm, evaginate and revolute into an anchor shape at apex; filaments 1-2 mm; anthers whitish. Female flowers: calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary conical; styles 3, 1-2 mm. Fruit many, greenish, longitudinally 10-striate, obconic, 2-4 × 1.2-1.5 cm, almost smooth; fruiting pedicel 10-15 mm. Seeds many, blackish brown, lenticular, 5-8 mm in diam., 2-3 mm thick, verrucose, unwinged. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Aug-Nov.

● Damp valleys in secondary forests; ca. 2300 m. C Yunnan.