Variable, similar to a cucumber, varying from heart to pentagon shaped They grow up to 10 cm in width and length. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants. They usually grow singly with long tubular petals each with six lobes. The fruit is an oval hairless gourd, looking like a small gherkin. Numerous pale flattened seeds 6-7 mm long are contained in the fruit.
Tendrils are long and simple.
They wrap around the host. Rootstock can reach 5 cm diameter with occasional adventitious roots forming where the stem runs along the ground. Why ivy gourd might succeed in WA Ivy gourd is a perennial plant which spreads vegetatively or by seed. It appears to prefer sandy soil. It has become a weed by rampant growth in Hawaii where it was introduced deliberately in the 1960s.