Coccinia hirtella Cogn. in Schinz, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 4: 821. 1896.

Holstein, Norbert, 2015, Monograph of Coccinia (Cucurbitaceae), PhytoKeys 54, pp. 1-166 : 82-83

7. Coccinia hirtella Cogn. in Schinz, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 4: 821. 1896.

Coccinia hirtella Type: [South Africa]. KwaZulu-Natal: Howick, 3400', male, fl, 18 Feb 1895, R. Schlechter 6775 (Lectotype, designated by Meeuse (1962: 101): Z! [Z-000004443, digital image: Z]; isolectotypes: BR! p.p. [BR0000008887184, digital image: BR, see taxonomic remarks], GRA [GRA0002851-0, digital image: JPS], K! [K000542639, digital image: K]).

Description.

Perennial creeper or climber. Stems up to 3 m, densely covered with long (> 0.5 mm), upright, whitish trichomes. Petioles 1.5-4 cm long, indumentum like on stem. Leaves 3-10 × 2.5-11 cm, 5-lobate. Lobes obovate or elliptical in outline, rarely ovate. Margin lobulate or coarsely serrate, (at maturity pale brownish) dentate (Fig. 13a). If margin serrate then lobe tips acute, else often rounded. Upper and lower leaf surface, esp. on the nerves, densely covered with long, upright, whitish trichomes. Probracts up to 3 mm. Tendrils simple or bifid. Male flowers solitary, rarely in few-flowered raceme. Common peduncle 1.8-4.5 cm, with white trichomes, pedicel of racemous flowers 0.2-3 cm, with white trichomes. Bracts up to 2 mm, caducous. Pedicel of solitary flowers 3-8.5 cm, with white trichomes. Perianth tube with white trichomes. Calyx lobes narrow triangulate to lineal, 3.5-6.5 mm long, spreading. Corolla 2-3.7 cm long, buff, lobes 1-2 cm. Filament column white, anther head pale yellowish, pollen sacs yellow to orange. Female flowers one solitary. Pedicel 0.5-5.5 cm, with long, white trichomes. Hypanthium with white trichomes, calyx lobes and corolla like in male flowers. Style columnar, whitish. Stigma bulging, yellow. Ovary with some long trichomes. Fruit oblong ovoid, 5-6 cm × 2.5-3 cm, sparsely covered with long trichomes to glabrous, ripening from green via green with longitudinal whitish mottling, via yellow, orange to red when ripe (Fig. 13a). Seeds 5.5-6.5 × 3-3.5 mm (L/W), seed height not seen, rather symmetrically obovate, face flatly lenticular.

Phenology.

Flowering time: January-April, September, November, December.

Distribution.

Fig. 30. Lesotho, South Africa (S KwaZulu-Natal, SE Free State). Afromontane scrubland and sourveld grassland. Elevation 110-1900 m. On sand, sandstone, loam, well-drained soils, full sun, grazing maybe tolerated.

Use.

It is said that if a Masuto dreams unpleasantly about an ancestor ( “balimo”), then relief is given after a bath with sun-dried Coccinia hirtella roots and ironstone in a hole on the threshold of the “lelopa” (the circular fence around the hut) ( Phillips 1933).

Vernacular names.

Sotho: leraka-la-balimo ( Jacot Guillarmod 1971; Phillips 1933), Sotho: monyaku ( Jacot Guillarmod 1971).

Taxonomic remarks.

The BR type specimen (BR0000008887184) contains two labels and is mixed. The female parts on the sheets have most likely been detached from the lectotype in Z, because it is a female branch with shallowly lobate leaves, just as part of the lectotype. The male parts on the BR specimen, however, are mixed. The leaves with the obtuse lobules are also likely type material, whereas the leaf with the acute lobules is very similar to the leaves of the R. Schlechter 6708 collection, which is not a type.

Specimens examined.

(Selection; in total: 36). Lesotho. Leribe: Léribé [Hlotse], H. Dieterlen & A. Dieterlen 145 (BR [BR0000008887467], P [P05620661], P [P05620662], Z). Maseru: Roma, Map[h]otong, M. Schmitz 8039 (PRE). South Africa. Free State: Rooiberge area, Ross Kloof, M. Jacobs 8565 (L, LISU, PRE). KwaZulu-Natal: 17 km from Nottingham Road on road to Loteni, E. Retief 1638 (MO, PRE); Albert Falls, A.K. Meebold 13160 (M); Giants Castle Game Reserve (Dinosaur Footprint area), W.R. Trauseld 930 (PRE).