Cucurbitaceae
Telfairia

Telfairia occidentalis Hook.f.

First published in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 2: 524 (1871)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is W. Tropical Africa to SW. Uganda. It is a climbing tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Cucurbitaceae, C. Jeffrey. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1967

Morphology General Habit
Liane.
Morphology Stem
Stems herbaceous, ribbed, glabrous or pubescent, climbing to 15 m. or more, perennial, becoming thickened when old.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves petiolate, 3–5-foliolate; median leaflet elliptic, acuminate, acute, tapered into the petiolule, entire or shallowly sinuate-toothed, glabrous or sparsely hairy or punctate, 3-nerved from near the base with 2 well-developed ascending lateral nerves, 60–170 mm. long, 30–100 mm. broad; lateral leaflets similar; petiolules 2–20 mm. long; petiole 19–80 mm. long, pubescent like the petiolules.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts
Probracts 5–8 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Male flowers in 100–300 mm. long racemes; bracts 2.5–8 mm. long, 1.5–3 mm. broad; pedicels 8–35 mm. long; receptacle-tube campanulate, 2.5–3.5 mm. long, densely glandular-hairy inside above; lobes triangular, glandular-dentate, 2–4 mm. long; petals ± 25 × 12 mm., white with dark purple mark at the base inside; stamens 3; anthers coherent in centre of flower. Female flowers stalked, details unknown.
sex Male
Male flowers in 100–300 mm. long racemes; bracts 2.5–8 mm. long, 1.5–3 mm. broad; pedicels 8–35 mm. long; receptacle-tube campanulate, 2.5–3.5 mm. long, densely glandular-hairy inside above; lobes triangular, glandular-dentate, 2–4 mm. long; petals ± 25 × 12 mm., white with dark purple mark at the base inside; stamens 3; anthers coherent in centre of flower.
sex Female
Female flowers stalked, details unknown.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit whitish when ripe, with yellowish flesh, ellipsoid, tapered at both ends, rather sharply 10-ribbed, up to ± 600 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds many, very broadly and asymmetrically ovate in outline, 32–36 × 33–37 × 10–12 mm.; testa smooth, with the endocarpic fibrous sheath poorly developed or absent.
Figures
Fig. 1/7, p. 14.
Habitat
Lowland rain-forest; ± 1200 m.
Distribution
U2 tropical Africa from Sierra Leone to the Congo Republic and Angola (Cabinda Province)
[FTEA]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Cucurbitaceae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:1. 1954

Morphology General Habit
A perennial climber, attaining 100 ft. in length
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla creamy-white with a red-purple eye
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit pale glaucous green, about 2 ft. long and 10 in. diam. with broad ridges
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds over 1 in. across
Note
Often cultivated.
[FWTA]

Common Names

english
fluted pumpkin
unknown
fluted pumpkin

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Living Collection Database

    • Common Names from Kew's Living Collection Database

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0