Ontario Weeds: Wild cucumber
Table of Contents
- Name
- Other Names
- Family
- General Description
- Stems and Roots
- Flowers and Fruit
- Habitat
- Similar Species
- Related Links
Name: Wild cucumber, Echinocystis lobata
(Michx.) T. & G.,
Other Names: concombre grimpant, échinocystis
lobé, concombre sauvage
Family: Gourd or Melon Family (Cucurbitaceae)
General Description: Annual, reproducing
only by seed.
Photos and Pictures
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Wild cucumber. A. Branch with cluster of male flowers
and 1 female flower.
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B. Portion of branch with 1 fruit.
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C. Young plant.
Stems & Roots: Stems vine-like, much-branched,
climbing over fences, shrubs and trees to a height of 5m (17ft) or
higher, soft and somewhat fleshy, lengthwise grooved, hairless or
sometimes hairy at the nodes; leaves bright green, long-stalked, usually
5-lobed, resembling the cultivated cucumber, the margin of each lobe
smooth or with scattered slender teeth; the lobes deep and the petiole
attached in the broadly rounded heart-shaped leaf base, each leaf
usually paired with a long, curly, branching tendril on the opposite
side of the stem at the same node.
Flowers & Fruit: Flowers with sexes
separate, male flowers in long, showy, branching panicles from the
axil of each leaf, their petals small, white or greenish-white with
prominent yellow anthers but with no pistil or ovary; female flowers
short-stalked, one in the axil of the tendril opposite the petiole
of the leaf immediately below each cluster of male flowers; female
flowers with no stamens but with a small, spherical, weakly spiny
ovary below the 6 small, yellow-green petals; fruit fleshy, oblong
2.5-5cm (1-2in.) long, weakly prickly, after maturity dying and opening
at the blossom end, releasing 4 large, flat, brown to blackish mottled
seeds; the dry empty seedpod hanging from the branch during fall and
winter as a small spiny mesh bag. Flowers from July to late autumn.
Habitat: Wild cucumber occurs throughout
southern Ontario in river bottoms, meadows, edges of woods, fence
lines and waste areas, usually in low moist areas, but occasionally
in drier sites as well.
Similar Species: It is distinguished by
its vine habit, its branched tendrils opposite the bright green leaves,
its long clusters of male flowers, its female flowers borne singly
and its large, fleshy, weakly spiny 4-seeded fruits, also borne singly.
Related Links
... on general Weed
topics
... on weed identification, order OMAFRA Publication 505: Ontario Weeds
... on weed control, order OMAFRA Publication 75: Guide To Weed Control
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