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Trochomeria polymorpha

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Photo by Specks.


Another plant from Lequyuanyi.com.


Photo by Warren McCleland, Africanplants.senckenberg.de.

Author: Célestin Alfred Cogniaux, 1881
Family:  CUCURBITACEAE
Origin:  Angola, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe
Soil:  Sand - Mix
Water:  Medium
Sun:  Medium
Thickness:  1,5-4 Centimetres
Height:  20-100 Centimetres
Flower:  Greenish - Yellow
Propagate:  Seeds/Cuttings
Names:  -
Synonyms:  Heterosicyos polymorpha, Welw.1871.
Heterosicyos stenolobus
, Welw. 1871.
Trochomeria stenoloba
, Cogn. 1881.
Trochomeria bussei,
Gilg. 1904.
Trochomeria brachypetala,
R. E. Fries, 1916.
Trochomeria brachypetala
var. foliata, R. Fernandes, 1959.
Trochomeria bussei
var. tripartita, R. Fernandes, 1959.
Trochomeria multiflora,
R. Fernandes, 1959.
Trochomeria polymorpha
var. stenoloba, R. & A. Fernandes, 1692.
Trochomeria teixeirae,
R. & A. Fernandes, 1969

This little member of the Cucurbitaceae family was given this name by Célestin Alfred Cogniaux in 1881. It is found in central Africa, growing in open forests in a sand or other well drained soil with some water and some sun. The caudex only grow from one and a half centimetre to four, but can reach up to 70 centimetres in length. The single of few stems reaches 20 to 100 centimetres. The flowers are greenish to yellow, the one to two centimetre fruits are red.

The genera name is derived from two Greek words, trochos; 'a wheel' and meris; 'a part'. The connection to the plant is rather obscure; perhaps the long, narrow corolla lobes look like the spokes of a wheel? The species name means 'many forms'.


Photo by Warren McCleland, Africanplants.senckenberg.de.