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 Plant Liz Makings @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Fruit Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial
General Desc:
Easy to recognize due to trailing stems and long, leaflets arranged like the fingers of a hand; leaves are bi-colored, nearly white on the mid-vein and green toward the lobe margins; often rooting at nodes; bright yellow flowers.
Identification notes: Vine; stems lay on the ground; slender stems distantly run, but rarely climb; ribbed, slender stems, without hairs, whitish with flat oval outgrowths (hair-like), tendrils; leaves palmately lobed, lobed nearly to the base, lobes narrow.
Height:
Trailing to 32 feet
Habitat Description: Sandy, sedimentary soil of washes and valleys or on dry plains and mesas. Grasslands, juniper-scrub, oak savannas (rarely), canal banks, stream bottoms and sides, wash and arroyo banks, dry stream channels, alluvial plains, rocky slopes, disturbed sites.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: Below 5000 feet
Color:
Yellow
Shape:
Regular not in clusters
Tubular:
Y
Flowering Period:
Jun - Oct
Description:
Yellow, star-shaped, 5 pointed lobes, broadly tubular and 2 inches long. Flowers open for only a very brief time around dawn; sparsely hairy.
Leaf Color:
Green, white veined
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Palmate
Leaf Margin:
Lobed
Leaf Attachment:
Other
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Trailing stems to 32 feet long, 3 feet common; leaf blades 5-parted to base, lobes lance-like and slender, 2 to 4 inches or longer, very hairy beneath; side lobes vary in shape and size; leaf stems (petiole) commonly 3 inches long.
Fruit Color: Green
Fruit Notes: Spherical to oblong gourd to 3-1\2 inches in diameter; vivid dark green, 10 narrow stripes, variably speckled; turn yellow and then solid tan as they dry. Fruits are pepos, a modified berry with a hard outer rind typical of Cucurbita genus.
Seed Notes: White, about 1/3 inch long.
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