Wild Cucumber, Echinocystis lobata (Michx.) Torr. & A. Gray, Minnesota Native Wildflowers, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

(Wild Balsam-apple). Wild Cucumber hides a bit in the landscape until mid-summer when the annual herbaceous vine accelerates its climb from the garden floor. It grows quickly with many forked tendrils clinging to support plants and soon it has spread itself over a large area, and then suddenly there is a burst of white as the 6-part flowers bloom in a long erect cluster (a raceme). The flowers are of separate sexes. Male flowers are showy with long thin petals opening to a star formation. Mixed in with all the staminate flowers are few of the pistillate (female) flowers, singly or rarely two together, located at a joint of the stem. This ratio of male to female is why after seeing so many white flowers one sees only a few of the cucumber fruits. These are a green oval, usually about 2" long, covered with soft prickles and containing four chambers, each of which produces a flat brown seed. The capsule opens from the bottom in autumn releasing the seed. The seed capsule is quite conspicuous as the vine is usually draped over other plants or woodpiles, etc., and the leaves have fallen away leaving only the green capsule hanging from the bare vine. Leaves are thin, rough on each side, on long stalks,with a heart-shaped base and 3 to 7 triangular lobes, mostly 5. Wild Cucumber grows in a variety of soils from moist to dry woodlands, but sun is required. The genus name is made up of two Greek words, echinos, which is difficult to discern as it seems to mean "hedgehog" and cystis which means "bladder" - this is easy to discern from the capsule shape. Lobata is Latin for "lobed". There is another plant called One-seeded Bur Cucumber, Sicyos angulatus, that has a similar looking capsule, but different flowers and leaves and less frequently seen in Minnesota.

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Wild Cucumber	Echinocystis lobata (Michx.) Torr. & A. Gray	Cucumber (Cucurbitaceae)	Not Extant	Late summer
Other names and notes	(Wild Balsam-apple). Wild Cucumber hides a bit in the landscape until mid-summer when the annual herbaceous vine accelerates its climb from the garden floor. It grows quickly with many forked tendrils clinging to support plants and soon it has spread itself over a large area, and then suddenly there is a burst of white as the 6-part flowers bloom in a long erect cluster (a raceme). The flowers are of separate sexes. Male flowers are showy with long thin petals opening to a star formation. Mixed in with all the staminate flowers are few of the pistillate (female) flowers, singly or rarely two together, located at a joint of the stem. This ratio of male to female is why after seeing so many white flowers one sees only a few of the cucumber fruits. These are a green oval, usually about 2" long, covered with soft prickles and containing four chambers, each of which produces a flat brown seed. The capsule opens from the bottom in autumn releasing the seed. The seed capsule is quite conspicuous as the vine is usually draped over other plants or woodpiles, etc., and the leaves have fallen away leaving only the green capsule hanging from the bare vine. Leaves are thin, rough on each side, on long stalks,with a heart-shaped base and 3 to 7 triangular lobes, mostly 5. Wild Cucumber grows in a variety of soils from moist to dry woodlands, but sun is required. The genus name is made up of two Greek words, echinos, which is difficult to discern as it seems to mean "hedgehog" and cystis which means "bladder" - this is easy to discern from the capsule shape. Lobata is Latin for "lobed". There is another plant called One-seeded Bur Cucumber, Sicyos angulatus, that has a similar looking capsule, but different flowers and leaves and less frequently seen in Minnesota.