Cayaponia quinqueloba

(Rafinesque) Shinners

Field & Lab. 25: 32. 1957.

Common names: Five-lobe-cucumber
EndemicIllustrated
Basionym: Arkezostis quinqueloba Rafinesque New Fl. 4: 100. 1838
Synonyms: Bryonia boykinii Torrey & A. Gray Cayaponia boykinii (Torrey & A. Gray) Cogniaux C. grandifolia (Torrey & A. Gray) Small Melothria grandifolia Torrey & A. Gray
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 6. Treatment on page 47.

Vines herbaceous. Stems sulcate, puberulent; tendrils usually unbranched, sometimes 2-branched. Leaves: petiole 15–45 mm, usually villous-hirsute, sometimes villous, moderately to densely short-stipitate-glandular; blade ovate to deltate or pentagonal, shallowly to deeply palmately 3–5-lobed, 4–11 (–15) × 4–12 (–17) cm, terminal lobe ovate-trullate, broadest at base or near middle, sometimes sublobed, base angular-cordate, margins denticulate to serrulate, surfaces sparsely villosulous to hirsutulous (not white-sericeous abaxially). Flowers: sepals linear, 1–2 mm; petals white to cream, corolla 6–10 mm; pistillate and staminate flowers 1–3 (–5), axillary. Fruits 1–3 (–5), red to scarlet, ellipsoid-cylindric, 1–1.6 (–2) cm; peduncle 1–4 mm. Seeds 3–12, 6–8 mm.


Phenology: Flowering Jun–Oct(–Nov).
Habitat: Swamp forests, floodplain and bottomland woods, clearings in alluvial woods, stream banks, oak-sweetgum-hackberry flatwoods, maple woods, bluffs, hardwood hammocks, roadsides, ditches, spoil banks
Elevation: 10–200 m

Distribution

V6 78-distribution-map.jpg

Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., Mo., Okla., S.C., Tenn., Tex.

Discussion

Leaves of Cayaponia quinqueloba (as in C. americana and some other cucurbits) are variable in shape. Cayaponia grandifolia has been treated as distinct from C. quinqueloba based on extremes of leaf form, C. grandifolia with deltate to ovate-deltate lobes broadest at the base (for example, R. K. Godfrey and J. W. Wooten 1981). The range of C. grandifolia is described as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, sympatric with C. quinqueloba; only a single variable species appears to exist.

Most collections of Cayaponia quinqueloba show plants with only pistillate flowers, relatively few with both pistillate and staminate flowers (the latter usually relatively less numerous on a given plant).

Apparently pistillate specimens may be from bisexual plants, the sampled portion of the stem lacking staminate flowers.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"broadest" is not a number.

... more about "Cayaponia quinqueloba"
distinct +  and connate +
Guy L. Nesom +
(Rafinesque) Shinners +
angular-cordate +
Arkezostis quinqueloba +
11 cm110 mm <br />0.11 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br /> (17 cm170 mm <br />0.17 m <br />) +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (11 cm110 mm <br />0.11 m <br />) +
ovate;deltate or pentagonal +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br />) +
filiform +
tubular +, saucer--shaped +, campanulate +  and rotate +
Five-lobe-cucumber +
rotate;campanulate +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
Ala. +, Ark. +, Fla. +, Ga. +, La. +, Miss. +, Mo. +, Okla. +, S.C. +, Tenn. +  and Tex. +
10–200 m +
furrowed +  and echinate +
dehiscent +  and indehiscent +
bristly +, smooth +, hairy +  and glabrous +
tuberculate +  and muricate +
fleshy +  and hard +
staminate +  and pistillate +
1.6 cm16 mm <br />0.016 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
red;scarlet +
ellipsoid-cylindric +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (1.6 cm16 mm <br />0.016 m <br />) +
disc--shaped +
Swamp forests, floodplain and bottomland woods, clearings in alluvial woods, stream banks, oak-sweetgum-hackberry flatwoods, maple woods, bluffs, hardwood hammocks, roadsides, ditches, spoil banks +
perennial +
dioecious +  and monoecious +
campanulate +
umbellate;subumbellate +
solitary +, corymbose +, fasciculate +, racemose +  and paniculate +
petiolate +, estipulate +  and simple +
deltate;ovate-deltate oblong-oblanceolate or elliptic +
denticulate +  and serrulate +
differentiated +
with narrow light-colored stripe +  and thinner +
globose;ovoid or ellipsoid-cylindric +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
indehiscent +
induplicate-valvate +  and imbricate +
white;cream +
tomentose +, puberulent +  and glabrous +
oblong-lanceolate;linear-oblong +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
short-stipitate-glandular;villous;villous-hirsute +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (4.5 cm45 mm <br />0.045 m <br />) +
Flowering Jun–Oct(–Nov). +
Field & Lab. +
not arillate +
subcompressed +  and obovoid +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
deltate;triangular or linear +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
Endemic +  and Illustrated +
perennial +  and annual +
climbing +  and procumbent +
sprawling +  and prostrate +
puberulent +
sparsely villosulous +  and hirsutulous +
Bryonia boykinii +, Cayaponia boykinii +, C. grandifolia +  and Melothria grandifolia +
Cayaponia quinqueloba +
Cayaponia +
species +
2-branched +  and unbranched +
ovate-trullate +
connate +  and distinct +
sigmoid-replicate +
dioecious +  and monoecious +