Peponium

Monoecious or dioecious, prostrate or scandent, often villous herbs. Leaves lobed, rarely entire, toothed. Tendrils unequally bifid, rarely simple. Maleflowers solitary or in racemes: calyx 5-lobed, tube gradually widening upwards or subcylindric, sometimes pilose outside and inside, with vibratile hairs, lobes linear, subulate, rarely sublanceolate; corolla 5-lobed, lobes obovate or oblong-elliptic, entire, sometimes glandular-hairy within and without; stamens 3, arising near base of calyx tube, filaments free, sometimes shorter than anthers, anthers cohering, with 1 anther 1-thecous and others 2-thecous, sometimes sagittate at base, thecae bent; pistil rudimentary. Femaleflowers solitary: calyx and corolla as in male; staminodes 0 or 3, linear; ovary oblong or linear-oblong, with 3 placentas and many ovules, sometimes tomentose, style thick, fleshy, linear, stigma 3-lobed, fleshy. Fruit ovoid or cylindric, fleshy, many-seeded. Seeds obovate, smooth or sometimes tomentose with crustaceous testa. x = 12 (1 report).