Momordica kirkii (Hook. fil.) C. Jeffrey

kirkii: named after Dr John Kirk, who accompanied David Livingstone on his Zambezi expedition of 1858

Perennial scrambler or climber. Stems annual, prostrate or scandent, growing from a tuberous rootstock. Tendrils simple. Leaves shallowly 5-lobed with short triangular lobes, giving the leaf a near-pentagonal outline. Base deeply cordate. Flowers solitary, axillary, unisexual on the same plant. Peduncles adnate to the leaf petioles, each flower appearing to arise from a leaf. Corolla bright orange; lobes obovate-obcuneate, bilobed. Male flowers 3.5-6 cm in diameter, much larger than female flowers. Fruit small, fusiform, ribbed, pubescent particularly on the ribs.

Tanzania southwards to Mozambique and Zimbabwe