Sicyos angulatus | |
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Fruit and flowers | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Cucurbitales |
Family: | Cucurbitaceae |
Genus: | Sicyos |
Species: | S. angulatus |
Binomial name | |
Sicyos angulatus | |
Sicyos angulatus, [1] the oneseed bur cucumber [2] 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.
The vine produces long branching annual stems that climb over shrubs and fences or trail across the ground. The stems are hairy, pale green and furrowed. The alternate leaves have three to five palmate lobes and can be 8 in (20 cm) across. The margin is slightly toothed, the upper surface of the blade is usually hairless and the under side has fine hairs, especially on the veins. The petiole is thick and hairy, and about 5 in (13 cm) long. The leaf is deeply indented where it is attached to the petiole. Opposite some of the junctions formed by the petiole and stem, grow branched tendrils, and at others there are flower shoots. The plant is monoecious, with separate male and female blooms. The male flowers are in long-stemmed racemes. Each flower is about 0.3 in (0.8 cm) wide, with a calyx with five pointed teeth, a whitish, green-veined corolla with five lobes, and a central boss of stamens. The small female flowers are bunched together on a short stalk, each having its ovary enclosed in a spiny, hairy fruit; one seed is produced by each flower. The fruit is about 0.5 in (1.3 cm) long, green at first but becomes brown with age; it is dispersed by animals which come into contact with its bristly surface. [3]
S. angulatus is native to Ontario and Quebec in Canada, and the eastern and southern parts of the United States as far west as North Dakota and Texas. [2] It grows in fertile, moist habitats such as floodplain areas, damp grassland, thickets, bushy places, river banks, ditches and field verges. It appreciates disturbed ground. [3]
In Europe the oneseed bur cucumber was introduced as a ornamental plant during the 18th century; the first report of its naturalization in Germany dates back to 1835. In Italy was reported in Trentino since 1853. [4] Nowadays Sicyos angulatus is considered an invasive species, quite difficult to control because its seed bank can last in the ground for at least three years after the destruction of the aerial part of the plant. Its infestation can be impressive, covering the pre-existing vegetation with thick and heavy mats. The species tend to spread along river banks, where it finds the better ecological conditions for its growth, but recently it can also be found alongside road and field edges. [5]
Bumblebees and honey bees, as well as various flies, sphecid wasps and vespid wasps are attracted to the nectar produced by the flowers. Some bees also collect pollen from the male flowers. The horned squash bug and Anasa repetita feed on the plant, as do the spotted cucumber beetle, the striped cucumber beetle and the leaf beetle Acalymma gouldi . Herbivorous mammals seem to avoid the plant. [3]
The foliage of Sicyos angulatus can be cooked and eaten as a green vegetable, and the fruits can also be eaten, but because of their size are of little value. A decoction of the plant has been used to treat venereal disease. [6] [7]
The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are:
Smilax rotundifolia, also known as roundleaf greenbrier or common greenbrier, is a woody vine native to the southeastern and eastern United States and eastern Canada. It is a common and conspicuous part of the natural forest ecosystems in much of its native range. The leaves are glossy green, petioled, alternate, and circular to heart-shaped. They are generally 5–13 cm long. Common greenbrier climbs other plants using green tendrils growing out of the petioles.
Parthenocissus inserta, also known as thicket creeper, false Virginia creeper, woodbine, or grape woodbine, is a woody vine native to North America, in southeastern Canada and a large area of the United States, from Maine west to Montana and south to New Jersey and Missouri in the east, and Texas to Arizona in the west. It is present in California, but it may be an introduced species that far west. It is introduced in Europe.
Vicia sepium or bush vetch is a plant species of the genus Vicia. A nitrogen-fixing, perennial, leguminous climbing plant that grows in hedgerows, grasslands, the edges of woodland, roadsides and rough ground. It occurs in western Europe, Russia including Siberia, Crimea, Caucasus and Central Asia. It can also be found in eastern Canada, north-eastern states of the USA and, where suitable habitat occurs, in Greenland. It is also found throughout England and eastern parts of Wales.
Ipomoea pandurata, known as man of the earth, wild potato vine, manroot, wild sweet potato, and wild rhubarb, is a species of herbaceous perennial vine native to North America. It is a twining plant of woodland verges and rough places with heart-shaped leaves and funnel-shaped white flowers with a pinkish throat. The large tuberous roots can be roasted and eaten, or can be used to make a poultice or infusion. When uncooked, the roots have purgative properties.
Acalypha rhomboidea is a plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae.
Dalibarda repens(dewdrop, false violet, star violet, Robin runaway. French Canadian: dalibarde rampante) is a perennial plant in the rose family, native to eastern and central Canada and to the northeastern and north-central United States. It is the only species in the genus Dalibarda, which is closely allied with the genus Rubus. The species is often included in the genus Rubus as Rubus repens (L.) Kuntze. It is fairly easily grown in shady locations in damp to wet, acidic soils, and is frequently used in wildflower and bog gardens as a ground-cover.
Echinocystis is a monotypic genus in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. The sole species is E. lobata, commonly called wild cucumber, prickly cucumber or bur cucumber. It is an annual, sprawling plant that is native to North America.
Bryonia alba is a vigorous vine in the family Cucurbitaceae, found in Europe and Northern Iran. It has a growth habit similar to kudzu, which gives it a highly destructive potential outside its native range as a noxious weed. Other common names include false mandrake, English mandrake, wild vine, and wild hops, wild nep, tamus, ladies' seal, and tetterbury.
Ranunculus recurvatus, the blisterwort or hooked crowfoot, is a plant species of the genus Ranunculus in the family Ranunculaceae native to eastern North America. It is an early-flowering plant of moist deciduous woods from central Quebec south to Florida.
Tripterocalyx micranthus is a species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family known by the common names smallflower sandverbena and small-flowered sand-verbena.
Sicyos albus is a species of flowering plant in the gourd family known by the common names anunu and white bur-cucumber. It is endemic to Hawaii, where it is known only from the island of Hawaii. It is threatened by the destruction and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.
Sicyos macrophyllus is a rare species of flowering plant in the Cucurbitaceae, the squash family. It is endemic to Hawaii where it is present only on the island of Hawaii. It has likely been extirpated from the island of Maui. Common names include alpine bur cucumber, largeleaf bur-cucumber, and 'anunu.
Ranunculus cortusifolius, also known as the Azores buttercup or Canary buttercup, is a plant species in the genus Ranunculus, family Ranunculaceae, the buttercup or crowfoot family. It grows on moister sites throughout the Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands but is widely cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental. There are reports of it having become naturalized in parts of California.
Ctenolepis garcini, also known as Garcin's bur cucumber, is a tender climber of the family Cucurbitaceae. It is one of the three species of the genus Ctenolepis. It is widely distributed in southern India and Ceylon. The species was named after French botanist Laurent Garcin, who traveled India in the 18th century.
Marah gilensis, commonly known as the Gila manroot, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, endemic to Arizona and New Mexico in the United States.
Coccinia abyssinica is an Ethiopian species of Coccinia which was first described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. The tuber is under its Oromo name anchote a well-known local crop, but also the leaves are eaten.
Cucumis hystrix is a monoecious climbing vine in the family Cucurbitaceae. The specific epithet is New Latin for "porcupine".
Solena amplexicaulis, commonly known as the creeping cucumber, is a species of plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, native to tropical southern Asia. The fruits, leaves, roots and shoots have use as food and in traditional medicine.
Ranunculus arcticus, the birdfoot buttercup, is a species of buttercup in the family Ranunculaceae. It has a circumpolar distribution in Northern Europe, Northern Asia and North America.