Tiny and perfect Madras Pea Pumpkin

Discussion in 'Botany Photo of the Day Submissions' started by milli, Nov 9, 2006.

  1. milli

    milli Member

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    Location:
    Delhi, India
    After seeing the superb pumpkins featured around halloween time in America, I thought to share** this one ..... the tiniest most perfect pumpkin. Fit for the fairies’ Halloween surely !

    Found in open scrub areas in Delhi, this blooms in October and fruits soon after. This vine with distinctive gourd like leaves would have been dismissed as another wild cucurbitaceae. I did get a picture of the small yellow flower for later identification, and was rewarded with the miniscule fruit.

    Fruit and flower both are under 2mm in size. I believe it should be Mukia maderaspatana, featured in Isaac Kehimkar’s book on Indian wildflowers.

    Is Mukia the only genus of tiny gourds ? I would love to know how the species can be definitely identified.

    **Photograph Shared on Creative Commons Attribute-Non-derivative License
     

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  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    WA USA (Z8)
    That's not vewy scawy!
     

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