Leaves very variable, 4–5 in. long, 2–5 in. broad, subdeltoid-ovate or palmately 3–5-lobed or angled, lobes short and broad, or leaf deeply 5-lobed with longer oblong acute lobes; basal sinus large and open in the simple leaves, deep and closed in the lobed ones; tips of leaves and their segments subulate and hooked, brown and hard when dry, fragile and succulent when fresh; upper surface papillose, lower covered with minute raised points; petiole very short, 1/2– 3/4 in. Tendrils long and stout. Male fl.: Crowded on a very short axillary peduncle, very shortly pedicelled. Calyx-tube turbinate; lobes spreading, 1/3 in. long. Corolla fleshy, cylindric, 3/4 in. long by 1/2 in. broad, coriaceous, orange-yellow, 5-lobed to about the middle, clothed with long papillæ within. Female fl.: Solitary, or panicled on a short stout peduncle. Ovary narrow, ovoid, glabrous, 1/2 in. long. Calyx-tube 1/6 in. long, lobes and corolla as in the male. Fruit shortly cylindric, rounded at both ends, 1–1 1/2 in. long. Seeds very numerous, 1–5th in. long.
