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Melothria ritchiei
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Family:
CUCURBITACEAE
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Citation: Melothria ritchiei Chakrav., Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 50: 898. 1952 & Fasc. Fl. Ind. 11: 86. 1982.
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Malayalam Name(s):
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Annuals, stems slender, pilose. Leaves alternate, 2-4 cm long and as broad, cordate, 5-angular, acute, base broadly emarginate, undulate denticulate; petioles 4-7 cm long, villous. Tendrils simple, filiform, short, subglabrous. Plants monoecious. Male flowers: peduncles 1-2 mm long, flowers shortly pedicellate, fasciculate, upper flowers caducous, pedicels filiform, spreading, densely hirsute. Receptacle campanulate, ca. 2 x 1mm, sparsely villose. Sepals 5, ca. 0.5 mm long, subulate; petals ca 3 mm long, dusky, spreading, oblong-ovate, acute; staminal filaments ca 0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers connate, one 1-locular, two 2-locular, erect, some-what curved, ca. 1 mm long, connective broad, shortly produced. Female flowers solitary or few on the male axil; peduncles 4-5 mm long; ovary elongate-linear; style short, disc cupuliform, white; stigma 3-lobed. Fruits elongate-linear; dusky, rostrate, apex and base attenuate, sparsely hirsute; seeds 2-3 x 1 mm, ovate-oblong, dusky, immarginate.
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Habit:
Climber
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Flowering & Fruiting:
June-August
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District(s):
Thiruvananthapuram
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Moist rock crevices
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Distribution:
Peninsular India
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Yellow
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
Peninsular India
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
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