TENDER CREEPING-CUCUMBER
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| File Size: 35 KB |
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Melothria pendula L.
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| Bourbon County, Kansas |
| Perennial |
| Height: Vine 2-14 feet long |
| Family: Cucurbitaceae - Gourd Family |
| Flowering Period: June, July, August, September |
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| Stems: | | Slender, climbing, trailing, or clambering, glabrous or hispid; tendrils unbranched. | | Leaves: | | Cauline, alternate, simple; petiole present; blade nearly entire or 3-5-angled or 3-5-lobed, 1.2 to 3.2 inches long, .6 to 2.8 inches wide, surfaces glabrous or hispid, lobes obtuse to acute, margins dentate to serrate. | | Inflorescences: | | Staminate flowers in racemes or umbel-like cymes; pistillate flowers usually solitary; pistillate peduncle .6 to 1.8 inch. | | Flowers: | | Hypanthium bell-shaped; calyx lobes 5, triangular; corolla yellow to orange yellow, wheel-shaped to bell-shaped, .01 to .02 long, .2 to .4 inch wide, petals 5; ovary glabrous; stamens 5; pistil 1; style 1; stigmas 2-3. | | Fruits: | | Pepos, green, often mottled with light green or white patches, sometimes turning purple, ellipsoid to nearly globose, indehiscent, .03 to 1 inch long, .03 to .6 inch wide, glabrous; seeds 30-60, ovate to elliptic, .08 to .16 inch, flattened, smooth. | | Habitat: | | Floodplain forests, stream banks, roadsides, thickets, fencerows, and disturbed areas | | Distribution: | | Southern counties of southeastern 1/4 of Kansas | | Origin: | | Native | | Comments: | | Melothria, an ancient name for a fruiting vine and pendula, hanging down. |
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