台湾马㼎儿: tai wan ma jiao er

Melothria guamensis Merrill, Philipp. J. Sci., C, 9: 151. 1914; M. kelungensis (Hayata) Hayata ex Makino & Nemoto; M. liukiuensis Nakai; Zehneria kelungensis Hayata; Z. liukiuensis (Nakai) E. H. Walker.

Plants scandent. Stems and branches slender, elongate, sulcate-angular, glabrous or rarely puberulent. Tendrils filiform, simple. Petiole slender, 1.5-5 cm; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially deep green, broadly ovate, 4-8 × 4-8 cm, membranous, scabrous, basal sinus semicircular, rarely hastate, undivided or somewhat 3-5-lobed, margin irregularly denticulate or crenate-dentate, apex acute and shortly mucronate or shortly acuminate. Plants dioecious. Male peduncle slender, 1.5-5 cm, apex 10-30-flowered; pedicels spreading, 3-6 mm; calyx tube broadly campanulate, ca. 3 mm, base acute; segments subulate, ca. 0.5 mm; corolla pale yellow, puberulent; segments ovate, ca. 2.5 mm, 3-veined, acute; filaments short, ca. 1 mm, puberulent; anthers ovoid, 0.8-1 mm. Female flowers solitary or sometimes in few-flowered fascicle; pedicels 1-1.5 cm; ovary oblong. Fruit purplish black when ripe, baccate, ovate-oblong, 1-1.5(-3) cm × 7-10 mm, smooth, glabrous, both ends obtuse. Seeds gray-white, ovate-oblong, 2-3 × ca. 2 mm, base slightly attenuate, marginate. Fl. and fr. Mar-Dec.

Forests; 400-1400 m. Guangdong, Taiwan, Yunnan [Japan; Pacific islands (Guam)].

De Wilde and Duyfjes (Blumea 51: 75. 2006) recorded Zehneria repanda (Blume) C. Simmons (Pilogyne repanda (Blume) W. J. de Wilde & Duyfjes) from Taiwan, on the basis of a single collection (van Steenis 20752), which we have not seen. It differs from Z. guamensis in its smaller, 0.5-0.8(-1) cm in diam., globose fruit. It is said to be a montane species of forest margins and scrub, at 1400-2700 m.