Coccinia pwaniensis

Coccinia pwaniensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Cucurbitales
Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Genus:	Coccinia
Species:	C. pwaniensis
Binomial name
Coccinia pwaniensis Holstein

Coccinia pwaniensis is an East African species of Coccinia that was first described in 2010.

Description

Perennial, dioecious climber. Shoot length up to 3 m. Young shoots are glabrous and green and later make a grey to reddish-grey bark. Leaves are alternate with 0.6 to 4.1 cm long petiole, lamina 2–10 × 2.7–11.4 cm, shallowly to profoundly 3-lobate (rarely 5-lobate). Upper lamina glabrous with clear to whitish pustules. Lower lamina and petiole with sparse hairs that appear wart-like when broken off. Tendrils simple. Probracts 2–3 mm long.

Flowers in male plants in long many-flowered racemes, in female plants solitary. Calyx with 5 very acute ("subulate"), 2.5–3.5  mm long lobes. Corolla 1.7–2.6 cm long, pale yellowish-orange. Stamens in male flowers 3, combined to a single column. Anthers sinuate, in a globose head. Fruits short cylindrical, 6.2–8.0 cm long and 1.8–2.3 cm in diameter. Seeds 6.5–7.0 × 4.0–4.5 × ca. 1.5 mm (L/W/H), symmetrically obovate, face lenticular.

Distribution

Coccinia pwaniensis occurs along the margins of northern East African coastal forests in SE Kenya, E and NE Tanzania.

Etymology

The epithet is derived from the Swahili word for "coast", referring to the distribution of the species.

Hybridization

The species is known to produce sterile hybrids with Coccinia grandis in the wild.

References

• Holstein, N.; Renner, S.S. (2010). "Coccinia (Cucurbitaceae) gains two new species from East Africa, three new synonyms, and one new combination". Kew Bulletin. 65 (3): 435–441. doi:10.1007/s12225-010-9229-9. S2CID 41294663.
• Holstein, N. (2015). "Monograph of Coccinia (Cucurbitaceae)". PhytoKeys (54): 1–166. doi:10.3897/phytokeys.54.3285. PMC 4547038. PMID 26312043.