Momordica balsamina

Perennial herb. Stems prostrate or scandent, pubescent, especially at nodes. Leaves bright green, broad, ovate to suborbicular, deeply cordate, deeply palmately 5–7-lobed, lobes 3–5-lobulate. Tendrils simple. Flowers monoecious, solitary. Male flowers calyx green to purplish-black, corolla white to yellow with grey, brownish or black spots near the bases of the three inner petals,. Female flowers bright orange-red. Fruit spindle shaped, dark green with 9 or 10 regular or irregular rows of cream or yellowish short blunt spines, ripening to bright orange or red. Seeds enveloped in scarlet red fleshy covering, with slightly depressed centers and elevated sculptured edges; margins grooved.