CUCURBITACEAE | GOURD FAMILY 
WILD CUCUMBER. WILD BALSAM APPLE 
Echinocystis lobata (Michx.) T. & G. 
The Wild Cucumber or Wild Balsam Apple is found along 
rivers and in waste places from New Brunswick to Manitoba and 
south to Virginia and Texas. It is often used as an ornamental 
plant for covering un- 
sightly objects. The 
flowers are very fra~ S4 we | 
grant at night. 5 ‘ \ f 
-The stem is nearly Mm” \. ie | / 
smooth but angular SS 
and grooved. It is SIS Y Sl 
much branched and Ge © , 
climbs to a height of ee 
15-25 feet. The leaves oe | 
are rough on both Lt 
sides. why fi! \ 
The flowers, pro- TAN 
duced from July to Beh Ved 
September, are im- yu] 
perfect, with both | 
forms on the same | 
plant. The staminate 
flowers are greenish \ 
white and very nu- t 
merous in axillary 
compound racemes. The pistillate are usually solitary in the 
same axils. Each staminate flower has 3 stamens. The fruit is 
at first fleshy but finally becomes dry and is thickly covered 
with weak prickles. It usually contains 4 large flat seeds. 
The Missouri or Fetid Wild Gourd, Cucurbita foetidissima HBK., 
is a trailing plant whose large, rough, angled stems extend 5-25 feet 
and bear few very large, alternate leaves that are long petioled, 
triangular-ovate and heart shaped at the base. It is perennial by 
an enormous root, sometimes 6 inches in diameter, which descends 
to unusual depths in search of moisture. The imperfect flowers are 
very large, yellow and solitary in the axils from May to September. 
Stamens are 3, pistil 1, and the globose ovary develops into a large 
yellow, thick-rinded berry called a pepo. 
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