Echinocystis

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Echinocystis
Echinocystis lobata.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Subfamily: Cucurbitoideae
Tribe: Sicyoeae
Genus: Echinocystis
Torr. & A.Gray
Species:
E. lobata
Binomial name
Echinocystis lobata
(Michx.) Torr. & A. Gray

Echinocystis is a monotypic genus in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. The sole species is E. lobata, commonly called wild cucumber and prickly cucumber. It is an annual, sprawling plant that is native to North America. Sicyos angulatus , common name "bur cucumber", is an annual plant with a similar clinging vine growth but different-appearing flowers and seed pods.

Contents

Description

Echinocystis lobata is an annual vine that produces stems that can be as long as 8 m (26 ft) and which climb, with the help of coiling, branched tendrils, over shrubs and fences or trail across the ground. The stems are angular and furrowed. The leaves are alternate with long petioles, five palmate lobes and no stipules. The plants are monoecious, with separate male and female blooms on the same plant. [2] The male flowers are in long-stemmed, upright panicles. Each flower has a white, or greenish-yellow, corolla with six slender lobes. The male flower has a single central stamen with a yellow anther. The female flower has a single stigma and is borne on a short stalk at the base of the flower panicle, with the spiky globular inferior ovary being immediately beneath. [3] The fruit is a prickly, inflated capsule up to 5 cm (2 in) long with two pores and four seeds. [2] It resembles a tiny spiny water melon, or cucumber, but is inedible. [4] It persists all winter and then opens at the bottom, liberating the seeds. [5]

This species can be distinguished from the oneseed bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus) by the six-lobed corolla and the lack of the clustered fruits that that plant bears. [2] It also appears similar to Marah macrocarpa (also known as wild cucumber) a large-rooted perennial plant which has a six-lobed corolla as well and is found in Southern California chaparral where E. lobata is not. [6]

Distribution

The native range across North America includes forty U.S. states (excluding Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska, and most of the far Southeastern states); and nine Canadian provinces. [7] [8] It has also been reported as an uncommon invasive species in the Örség Landscape Protection Area of Hungary near the Austrian-Slovenian border. [9] Similarly it is reported as an adventive alien species that grew in wetland, grassland and human-affected areas of the Carei Plain natural protected area, western Romania. [10]

Insect interactions

This vine has been reported as a food source and host plant for the leaf-footed bug Anasa repetita , which feeds along the entire length of the stem and at the developing roots. Specimens collected in September 2006 from a E. lobata in Grant County, Wisconsin were the first recording of the bug in that state. [11] Additionally, the pentatomid species Euschistus servus euschistoides is recorded as feeding on developing E. lobata fruit. [11] Robertson in 1928 reported that 2 different species of parasitoid hymenopterans had been collected from E. lobata flowers in central Illinois. Both the scoliid wasp Scolia bicincta and the tiphid wasp Myzinum quinquecinctum nectared on the flowers, along with a number of other flower species. [12] The beetle species Chauliognathus pensylvanicus is listed as visiting the wild flowers growing in Wisconsin. [13]

Bacterial infection

E. lobata has been shown to be susceptible to bacterial wilt, a disease caused by infection of the plants with the bacterium Erwinia tracheiphila . Bacteria are transmitted between plants by the Striped cucumber beetle Acalymma vittatum. As the adult beetles feed they also drop frass on fresh areas of feeding which results in infection of the plant. The susceptibility of E. lobata, Cucurbita foetidissima , Cucurbita californica and Sicyos angulatus to bacterial wilt was identified via experiments by E. M. Smith in 1911. [14]

Uses

The plant has been used medicinally by native Americans. The Taos Pueblo of New Mexico used it to treat rheumatism, while the Menominee of Wisconsin made a bitter extract from the roots for use as a love potion and as an analgesic. [15] The powdered root has been used to prepare a poultice to relieve headaches and the seeds have been used as beads. [16]

Related Research Articles

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Cucurbita is a genus of herbaceous fruits in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, native to the Andes and Mesoamerica. Five edible species are grown and consumed for their flesh and seeds. They are variously known as squash, pumpkin, or gourd, depending on species, variety, and local parlance. Other kinds of gourd, also called bottle-gourds, are native to Africa and belong to the genus Lagenaria, which is in the same family and subfamily as Cucurbita, but in a different tribe. These other gourds are used as utensils or vessels, and their young fruits are eaten much like those of the Cucurbita species.

<i>Alliaria petiolata</i> Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

Alliaria petiolata, or garlic mustard, is a biennial flowering plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, north-western Africa, Morocco, Iberia and the British Isles, north to northern Scandinavia, and east to northern Pakistan and Xinjiang in western China.

<i>Thunbergia alata</i> Species of plant

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Balsam apple may refer to:

<i>Cucurbita foetidissima</i> North American species of gourd

Cucurbita foetidissima is a tuberous xerophytic plant found in the central and southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It has numerous common names, but is most commonly called the buffalo gourd in English. The type specimen was collected from Mexico by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland sometime before 1817. In Latin, foetidissima means most unpleasant smell.

<i>Campanula rapunculoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Campanula rapunculoides, known by the common names creeping bellflower, rampion bellflower, rover bellflower, garden bluebell, creeping bluebell, purple bell, garden harebell, and creeping campanula, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Campanula, belonging to the family Campanulaceae. Native to central and southern Europe and west Asia, in some parts of North America it is an extremely invasive species.

<i>Liatris spicata</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Liatris spicata, the dense blazing star, prairie feather, gayfeather or button snakewort, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to eastern North America where it grows in moist prairies and sedge meadows.

<i>Orobanche uniflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Orobanche uniflora, commonly known as one-flowered broomrape, one-flowered cancer root, ghost pipe or naked broomrape, is an annual parasitic herbaceous plant. It is native to much of North America, where it is a parasitic plant, tapping nutrients from many other species of plants, including those in the families Asteraceae and Saxifragaceae and in the genus Sedum. The name "orobanche" can be translated to "vetch-strangler" and "uniflora" can be translated to "single-flower".

<i>Sicyos angulatus</i> Species of flowering plant

Sicyos angulatus, the oneseed bur cucumber or star-cucumber is an annual vine in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, native to eastern North America. The plant forms mats or climbs using tendrils. The leaves are palmately veined and lobed, the flowers are green to yellowish green, and the fruits form clusters of very small pepos.

<i>Sambucus racemosa</i> Species of plant

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<i>Vincetoxicum nigrum</i> Species of plant

Vincetoxicum nigrum, a species in the family Apocynaceae, also known as black swallow-wort, Louise's swallow-wort, or black dog-strangling vine, is a species of plant that is native to Europe and is found primarily in Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain. It is an invasive plant species in the northeastern United States, parts of the Midwest, southeastern Canada, and California. In 2020, wild plants were found in Timaru, New Zealand.

<i>Amphicarpaea bracteata</i> Species of legume

Amphicarpaea bracteata is an annual to perennial vine in the legume family, native to woodland, thickets, and moist slopes in eastern North America.

<i>Senna marilandica</i> Species of legume

Senna marilandica, commonly known as Maryland senna, Maryland wild senna, and wild senna, is a perennial flowering plant in the pea family (Fabaceae) native to the United States. It blooms in the summer with yellow flowers, followed by long seed pods, and can grow up to 2 m (6 ft) tall. It prefers average to wet soil.

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<i>Vitis arizonica</i> Species of grapevine

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<i>Mimulus alatus</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Sicyos macrophyllus</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Cucumis dipsaceus</i> Species of plant

Cucumis dipsaceus, also known as Arabian cucumber or hedgehog cucumber, is an annual climbing herb that can be found in tropical and arid locations. The plant is native to eastern Africa, first found in Sudan, southern Egypt, and Ethiopia. The developed fruits of the plant change from green to yellow and contain many seeds. The hairs that cover the oblong fruits nickname this species the “hedgehog cucumber”.

References

  1. NatureServe (2024). "Echinocystis lobata". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Rhoads, Ann Fowler; Block, Timothy A. (2007). The Plants of Pennsylvania: An Illustrated Manual. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 566. ISBN   978-0-8122-4003-0.
  3. Johnston, Brian (2006). "A Close-up View of the "Wild Cucumber" (Echinocystis lobata)". Micscape. Microscopy. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  4. Niering, William A.; Olmstead, Nancy C. (1985) [1979]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region. Knopf. p. 481. ISBN   0-394-50432-1.
  5. Chayka, Katy; Dziuk, Peter (2016). "Echinocystis lobata (Wild Cucumber)". Minnesota Wildflowers. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  6. Burnham, Robyn. "Echinocystis lobata" . Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  7. Caryopsis, Johnny. "The Biology of Wild Cucumbers". NatureNorth. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  8. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Echinocystis lobata". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  9. Invasive alien plants threatened the natural vegetation of Örség Landscape Protection Area (Western Hungary)
  10. Szatmari, P. M. (2012). "Alien and invasive plants in Carei Plain natural protected area, western Romania: Impact on natural habitats and conservation implications" (PDF). South Western Journal of Horticulture, Biology and Environment. 3: 109–120.
  11. 1 2 Williams, A. H. (2015). "Feeding Records of True Bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from Wisconsin, Supplement" (PDF). The Michigan Entomological Society. 48 (3–4): 192–193. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  12. Tooker, J. F.; Hanks, L. M. (2000). "Flowering plant hosts of adult hymenopteran parasitoids of central Illinois" (PDF). Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 93 (3): 580–588. doi:10.1603/0013-8746(2000)093[0580:fphoah]2.0.co;2. S2CID   29326678.
  13. Williams, A. H. (2007). "A friend unmasked: Notes on Chauliognathus pensylvanicus (Coleoptera: Cantharidae) and the nature of natural history" (PDF). Great Lakes Entomologist. 39 (3–4): 200–218. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  14. Rojas, E. S.; Batzer, J. C.; Beattie, G. A.; Fleischer, S. J.; Shapiro, L. R.; Williams, M. A.; Bessin, R.; Bruton, B. D.; Boucher, T. J.; Jesse, L. C.; Gleason, M. L. (2015). "Bacterial wilt of cucurbits: resurrecting a classic pathosystem". Plant Disease. 99 (5): 564–574. doi: 10.1094/pdis-10-14-1068-fe . PMID   30699691.
  15. Austin, Daniel F. (2010). Baboquivari Mountain Plants: Identification, Ecology, and Ethnobotany. University of Arizona Press. p. 125. ISBN   978-0-8165-2837-0.
  16. "Echinocystis lobata (Michx.)Torr.&A.Gray". Plants For A Future. Retrieved 13 December 2016.