Trichosanthes morrisii W.E.Cooper

Cooper, W.E. & de Boer, H.J. (2011) Austrobaileya 8(3): 381-383. Type: Australia: Northern Territory, Kakadu National Park, near Gubara Saddle, 28 December 2010, W.E.Cooper 2128, I. Morris & R.Dempster (holo: CNS [2 sheets + spirit]; iso: BR, BRI, CANB, DNA, L, MO, P, UPS).

A slender vine to 6 m, stem diameter to 2 cm, cream with black warts; young branchlets 7-ribbed. Tendrils 2-4-branched.

Leaf simple, 3-5-lobed (juveniles unlobed or remotely 3-lobed); blades 8-17 x 6.8-16 cm, base cordate; petioles 2.2-6 cm long; sparsely hairy; margin denticulate; glands sparse near base and towards apex.

Male and female flowers on different plants. Male flowers: flowers racemose usualy beside a solitary flower, up to 11-flowered; peduncles 9.5-10.5 cm long; bracts reticulate, apex acuminate, attenuate or cuneate base; pedicel on solitary flowers ca. 40 mm long; sepals rhomboid, 3-veined, hairy; petals not seen. Female flowers not seen.

Fruits globose, apex beaked, 3.6-5.5 cm, orange to red; probract persistent at base; mesocarp firm, 7-9 mm wide; pedicel to 18 mm long x 7-9 mm wide; seeds several, flat, oblong, both end obtuse, 11.2-12 mm long x 6.8-7.4 mm wide x 3.7-4.2 mm deep; testa brown; suspended in greenish-black pulp.

Features not available.

Endemic to NT, known from Kakadu National Park and Groote Eylandt. Altitudinal range from near sea level to about 65 m. Grows in Allosyncarpia-dominated forest in gorges on sandstone escarpments and in riparian evergreen vineforest on coastal dunes.

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