Lagenaria sphaerica (Sond.) Meyer (1843: 197)

Umoh, Omodot Timothy & Bassey, Margaret Emmanuel, 2021, Morphology and distribution of species of the family Cucurbitaceae in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, Phytotaxa 508 (2), pp. 107-128 : 118-119

6. Lagenaria sphaerica (Sond.) Meyer (1843: 197) ( Fig. 8 )

Basionym:— Luffa sphaerica Sond. in Harvey & Sonder (1862: 490); Homotypic synonym:— Sphaerosicyos sphaericus (Sond) Cogn. in De Candolle & De Candolle (1881: 466) .

Synonyms: — Adenopus breviflorus Benth. in Hooker (1849: 372); Lagenaria breviflora (Benth.) Roberty (1954: 795) .

Local name: —Ndise ikot (Annang and Ibibio).

Common name: —Wild melon.

Habitat: —Roadsides, fallow bush, cultivated land.

Description:—Herb, climbing by means of tendrils, up to 50m high; monoecious. Stem herbaceous, climbing, cylindrical, scabrid, 0.2–0.3 cm diam.; tendrils bifid, spirally coiled just above branching point. Leaves simple, alternately arranged, petiolate, exstipulate, scabrid, palmately lobed, deep green, dentate to undulate, apex acute, 7–15 × 6–20 cm; petiole cylindrical, 3–5 cm long, herbaceous, smooth. Inflorescence cymose; male flowers with tubular calyx, corolla white with 5 free petals, slightly hairy with patches of green towards calyx tube. Fruit round pepos, ± 7– 5 cm diam., pedunculate, smooth, green with white and yellow patches all over, many seeded. Seed flat, 1.0–1.4 × 0.6–0.8 cm.

Location in Akwa Ibom:— Ini, Essien Udim, Oruk Anam, Obot Akara, Ikot Ekpene, Ibiono, Uyo, Ibesikpo Asutan, Nsit Atai, Nsit Ubium, Mkpat Enin, Ikot Abasi, Oron, Mbo, and Eastern Obolo .

Abundance:— It existed in 100% of the sampling points, and was abundant in 73%, frequent in 20%, and rare in 7% of sampling plots.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Lagenaria sphaerica. A. Fruiting plant in habitat. B. Morphological features showing (A) Seed. (B) Leaf. (C) Tendrils. (D) Fruit. (E) Longitudinal section of flower.