Compilation
Cardiospermum hirsutum

Herbaceous or slightly woody climber, 0.9–8 m. long; stems deeply ridged, with short curled pubescence or with long spreading brown or golden brown hairs 3–5 mm. long. Leaves biternate or less often ternate, up to 18 cm. long, with deeply 3-lobed leaflets; petiole up to 6 cm. long, grooved, glabrous or pubescent; first order petiolules 1–3 cm. long, the central one longer or shorter than the laterals, those of ultimate leaflets 0–1 cm. long; leaflets ovate-rhombic, 1.5–9 cm. long, 1.2–4.3 cm. wide, acuminate at the apex, tapering at the base, coarsely crenate, ± glabrous or with tufts of hairs in the nerve axils beneath (can be velvety in South America); lateral nerves 5–12, weak. Inflorescences spreading horizontally, paniculate, with a pair of tendrils at the apex of the peduncle; peduncle 5–10 cm. long; axis 5–10 cm. long; pedicels sometimes orange, 1–5 mm. long. Flowers sweetly scented, 6–11 mm. long; sepals 4, greenish white sometimes crimson flushed outside, unequal, the shorter 3–3.5 mm. long, 2.5 mm. wide, the longer petaloid, 6–7 mm. long, 5 mm. wide; petals white, ovate, 8–9 mm. long, scale orange-yellow, contiguous in the centre of the flower to form a cup or corona enclosing the stamens or ovary; disk extrastaminal, formed of 2 adjacent club-shaped parts 5 mm. long. Stamens white. Stigma linear, 2–5 mm. long. Fruits green, ellipsoid, 4.5–7 cm. long, 2–3 cm. wide, membranous, inflated, strongly venose; septa 3, white or pale brown, papery, 5 cm. long, 3 cm. wide, remaining after dehiscence and each bearing a seed, forming a wind sailing wing. Seed black, globose, 7 mm. diameter, glabrous, with a white rounded-ovate hilum 1.5–2 mm. long. Fig. 25/5–7.