perennial, diœcious; stem and branches very long, angulate, smooth or a little scabrous-hairy on the young branches; tendrils short, spinous; leaves deeply palmately 5-lobed, scabrous on both sides, lobes narrow-lanceolate, pinnatifid, and dentate, lower ones very short, the middle the longest; male flowers campanulate; pepo ovoid, armed with large, conical spines. Stem much branched, as thick as a pigeon's quill, quite smooth and glabrous or with short hairs near the nodes. Tendrils 1/2 inch long, or shorter on the young branches, straight. Petioles 6–8 lines long, scabrous, and purplish as the prominent nerves of the leaves. Middle lobe about 1 1/2 inch long, 1 1/2–2 1/2 lines broad, with 4–6 horizontal lobes, the lower of which are 3–4 lines long or shorter in the upper leaves, the intermediate lobes divaricate, somewhat shorter, dentate, or lobes like the middle lobes; the lower ones generally very short, angulate-toothed. Peduncle 1/2 inch. Calyx of the male flower broad-campanulate, with lanceolate, recurved lobes. Petals pubescent outwards. Stamens and anthers as in the genus. Fruit 1 3/4 inch long, 1 inch in diameter, not fasciated or striated; spines numerous, about 3 lines long, at the base 2–3 lines wide. Seeds nearly 5 lines long, not margined.
