''Zehneria'' is a genus of flowering plants – of vines in the cucumber and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It contains about 35 species ranging from Africa, through Southeast Asia to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and Oceania. The name honours botanical artist

Joseph Zehner Josef Zehner aka Joseph Zehner ( fl. 19th century) was an Austrian botanical illustrator. The plant genus ''Zehneria'' in the family Cucurbitaceae The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting ...

.Flora of Australia Online.

Description

''Zehneria'' species are either

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, annual or perennial, climbing vines. Their

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are simple, dentate and usually palmately lobed. Inflorescences grow on axillary

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s, with the flowers normally clustered, occasionally solitary. The fruit is fleshy, usually globose or ellipsoidal, and indehiscent. The seeds are obovate, compressed and smooth.

Selected species

* '' Zehneria alba'' Ridl. * '' Zehneria baueriana'' Endl. * '' Zehneria bodinieri'' (H. Lév.) W. J. de Wilde & Duyfjes * '' Zehneria brevirostris'' W. J. de Wilde & Duyfjes * '' Zehneria capillacea'' (Schumacher & Thonning) Jeffrey * '' Zehneria cunninghamii'' F.Muell. * '' Zehneria ejecta'' F. M. Bailey * '' Zehneria hermaphrodita'' W. J. de Wilde & Duyfjes * '' Zehneria indica'' (Lour.) Keraudren * '' Zehneria japonica'' (Thunb.) H. Y. Liu * ''

Zehneria marginata ''Zehneria'' is a genus of flowering plants – of vines in the cucumber and gourd family (biology), family, Cucurbitaceae. It contains about 35 species ranging from Africa, through Southeast Asia to Australia and Oceania. The name honours Bota ...

'' (Blume) Keraudren * ''

Zehneria marlothii ''Zehneria'' is a genus of flowering plants – of vines in the cucumber and gourd family (biology), family, Cucurbitaceae. It contains about 35 species ranging from Africa, through Southeast Asia to Australia and Oceania. The name honours Bota ...

'' (Cogn.) R. Fern. & A. Fern. * ''

Zehneria maysorensis ''Zehneria'' is a genus of flowering plants – of vines in the cucumber and gourd family (biology), family, Cucurbitaceae. It contains about 35 species ranging from Africa, through Southeast Asia to Australia and Oceania. The name honours Bota ...

'' Wight. & Arn. * '' Zehneria microsperma'' Hook. f. * ''

Zehneria minutiflora ''Zehneria'' is a genus of flowering plants – of vines in the cucumber and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It contains about 35 species ranging from Africa, through Southeast Asia to Australia and Oceania. The name honours botanical artist Jos ...

'' (Cogn.) C. Jeffrey * '' Zehneria mucronata'' (Blume) Miq. * '' Zehneria repanda'' (Blume) Simmons * '' Zehneria scabra'' (L.f.) Sond. * ''

Zehneria scabrella ''Zehneria'' is a genus of flowering plants – of vines in the cucumber and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It contains about 35 species ranging from Africa, through Southeast Asia to Australia and Oceania. The name honours botanical artist Jose ...

'' F. Muell. * '' Zehneria sphaerosperma'' W. J. de Wilde & Duyfjes * ''

Zehneria tenuispica ''Zehneria'' is a genus of flowering plants – of vines in the cucumber and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It contains about 35 species ranging from Africa, through Southeast Asia to Australia and Oceania. The name honours botanical artist Jos ...

'' W. J. de Wilde & Duyfjes * '' Zehneria thwaitesii'' (Schweinf.) C. Jeffrey * '' Zehneria wallichii'' (C. B. Clarke) C. Jeffrey

Gallery

File:TimunTikus.jpg, Zehneria grown in Malaysia File:BuahTimunTikus.jpg, Close-up of a Zehneria fruit File:TimunTikusTua.jpg, Matured Zehneria is black in color

References

Notes

Sources

* * * Cucurbitaceae genera {{Cucurbitales-stub