Baijiania.

Baijiania A. M. Lu & J. Q. Li
Baijiania A. M. Lu & J. Q. Li in J. Q. Li, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 31: 50. 1993.
Type: Baijiania borneensis (Merr.) A.M. Lu & J.Q. Li, Villamil 308 (UC, BO, K, PNH), Malaysia, Sabah (Borneo).
Sinobaijiania C. Jeffrey & W. J. de Wilde., Bot. Zhurn. 91: 769. 2006.

Woody climbers with dioecious sex system and up to 6 m long shoots produced from small or very large spherical tubers, which are often partly exposed as pachypodia. The leaves are simple, petiolate, with ovate-cordate or ovate-oblong shape, unlobed, bi-or trilobed, to 30 cm long. The tendrils are apically bifid (rarely simple) and up to 25 cm long. The flowers are small, shallow, cup-shaped, the male flowers solitary or in few- to many-flowered racemes, the female flowers solitary or in pairs or threes. The five sepals are short, triangular-linear or triangular-ovate, the five petals are up to 10 mm long, elliptic, rounded, yellow, cream-coloured or greenish white. The five stamens are inserted on short filaments near the mouth of the tube, two pairs connate at the base, one solitary. The anthers are all monothecous with more or less curved thecae and small pollen (polar axis 24-25 µm, equatorial axis 26-27 µm), tricolporate, reticulate (Zhang and Lu 1989). The ovary is ellipsoid with many horizontal ovules. The style is c. 2 mm long with a trilobed stigma, the lobes notched. The subglobose or cylindric fruit is 3-4.5 cm in diameter, pulpy, soft hairy or more or less glabrous, orange when ripe, and contains many, ovate or ovate-oblong, rounded, smooth seeds, c. 5 mm in diameter.
The five species are found along forest margins, in primary or moderately disturbed forest in China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Borneo (Sabah, SE Kalimantan, Sarawak).

Accepted species

Baijiania borneensis (Merr.) A.M. Lu & J.Q. Li, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 31: 50-51. 1993.
Baijiania decipiens (C. Jeffrey & W. J. de Wilde) H. Schaef. & S. S. Renner, Taxon 60: 133. 2011.
Baijiania smitinandii (W. J. de Wilde & Duyfjes) H. Schaef. & S. S. Renner, Taxon 60: 133. 2011.
Baijiania taiwaniana (Hayata) A.M. Lu & J.Q. Li, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 31: 52. 1993.
Baijiania yunnanensis (A.M. Lu & J.Q. Li) A.M. Lu & J.Q. Li, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 31: 51-52. 1993.

Literature

De Wilde, W. J. J. O. and B. E. E. Duyfjes. 2003. The genus Baijiania (Cucurbitaceae). Blumea 48: 279-284.

De Wilde, W. J. J. O. and B. E. E. Duyfjes. 2006. The subtribe Thladianthinae (Cucurbitaceae) in Indochina and Malesia. Blumea 51: 493-518.

Zhang, Z.-Y., Lu, A.-M. 1989. Pollen morphology of the subtribe Thladianthinae (Cucurbitaceae) and its taxonomic significance. Cathaya 1: 23-36.