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 Leaves Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Plant Sue Carnahan @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: CC BY-NC (Attribution-Non-Commercial) | | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial
General Desc:
Male flower and female flowers on the same plant; usually grows under mesquite trees or large shrub; foliage dies back in the fall and sprouts again from the tuber in the spring. Easy to distinguish from other plants due its spiny pepo (fruit).
Identification notes: Perennial from large tuberous root; slender stems; coiled climbing tendrils; green leaf blades hairless below, rough above; 3 to 7 pointed to rounded lobes; star-shaped flowers with 5 round-tipped lobes; flowers are followed by round, spiny, green melons.
Height:
To 6 feet twining
Habitat Description: Found in canyons and in hillside thickets, especially along streams.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Riparian
Elevation: Below 5000 feet
Color:
White
Shape:
Regular in round clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
Feb - Apr
Description:
Unisex flowers in simple or compound clusters; white petals; 1/4 to 1/2 inch broad; soft, short hairs outside; granules on stalk; 3 stamens on male flower; fine hairs and glands on ovary of female flower; prickly; wider than long; solitary.
Leaf Color:
Green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Round or oval
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Alternate
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
Leaves and stems
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Leaves thin, hairless below, somewhat rough above with scattered circular appendages, blades 1 to 3 inches long; 3 to 7 rounded to pointed lobes; sharp, broad notch at tip; stalk 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches long, grooved, hairless.
Fruit Color: Yellowish-green
Fruit Notes: Pepo (fleshy, watery fruit with many seeds and firm rind); 1/16 to 1/8 inch long and wide; 2 to 4 cells; 2 to 4 seeds; somewhat succulent when green, becoming dry; covered with dense stiff bristles or spines; globe-shaped.
Seed Notes: 2 to 4 seeds, rounded, slightly compresssed.
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