Coccinia hirtella

Coccinia hirtella is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, found in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Lesotho. It is a perennial vine with stems up to 3 m in length, densely covered with long, upright, whitish trichomes. The petioles are 1.5–4 cm long and similarly hirsute. Leaves are 3–10 cm wide, 5-lobed, with lobes that are obovate or elliptical. The leaf margins are either lobulate or coarsely serrate, with lobe tips acute or rounded. Both leaf surfaces are densely covered with long, upright, whitish trichomes, especially on the veins. Male flowers are solitary or in few-flowered racemes, with pedicels and perianth tubes bearing white trichomes. Female flowers are solitary, with similar floral structures to males. The fruit is oblong ovoid, 5–6 cm long, sparsely to glabrous, and ripens from green to red.