Common Name: GOURD FAMILY Habit: Annual, perennial herb; hairs often hard from calcium deposits; generally monoecious. Stem: trailing or climbing, 1--many; tendril generally 1 per node, often branched. Leaf: generally simple, alternate, generally palmate-lobed and -veined, petioled; stipules 0. Inflorescence: at nodes; staminate flowers in racemes, panicles, small clusters, (or 1); pistillate flowers generally 1. Flower: unisexual [bisexual], radial; hypanthium > ovary; calyx generally 5-lobed (or +- 0); corolla rotate to cup- or bell-shaped, generally 5-lobed; stamens 3--5 (or +- 1--3 from fusion), anthers twisted together, often > filaments; ovary +- inferior, chambers 3--5, placentas parietal, styles 1--3, stigmas generally lobed, large. Fruit: berry, drying or not, or capsule, irregularly dehiscent, often gourd- or melon-like. Seed: 1--many. Genera In Family: 100 genera, 700 species: especially tropics; some cultivated (Citrullus, watermelon; Cucumis, cucumber; Cucurbita, gourd, pumpkin, squash; Luffa, loofah; Sechium, chayote). Note: Several cultivated species included Bryonia dioica reported as waifs in California (Howell 1958 Wasmann J Biol 16:1--157), but none recently. eFlora Treatment Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Common Name: MAN-ROOT, WILD CUCUMBER Habit: Perennial herb; tuber large; occasionally temporarily dioecious. Stem: +- scabrous or hairy, glabrous in age; tendril branched. Leaf: +- round, +- cordate, +- 5--7-lobed. Inflorescence: staminate flowers in racemes or panicles (or 1 flower per node early); pistillate flower 1 per node, generally at same nodes as staminate. Flower: sepals 0; staminate flower 3--15 mm wide, rotate to cup-shaped, white to cream or yellow-green; stamens fused, anthers twisted together; stigma (pistillate flowers) 1, +- hemispheric. Fruit: capsule, irregular-dehiscent from tip, +- symmetric, 3--20 cm, spheric to ovate or oblong, +- prickly, beak << body or 0. Seed: 1--many, generally > 1 cm, +- ovate, +- flat. Etymology: (Hebrew: bitter, from taste of all parts) Unabridged Note: Sometimes included in Echinocystis. Reference: Borchert 2006 Ecol Res 21:641--650 Unabridged Reference: Nicholls & Bohm 1982 J Nat Prod 45:453--454; Schlising 1969 Amer J Bot 56:552--561
Marah fabacea (Naudin) Greene
NATIVE Habit: Herbage generally not glaucous. Flower: corolla rotate, yellow-green to cream or (especially inland) white. Fruit: 4--5 cm, +- spheric; prickles sparse to +- dense, < 12 mm, +- stiff, unhooked. Seed: 2--4, 18--24 mm, ovate to oblong, +- flat on sides or not. Chromosomes: 2n=32. Ecology: Streamsides, washes, shrubby open areas; Elevation: < 1600 m. Bioregional Distribution: CA-FP (exc n NW, n CaR), w DMoj exc DMtns. Flowering Time: Feb--Apr Synonyms: Marah fabaceus, orth. var. Unabridged Synonyms: Marah fabacea var. agrestis (Greene) Stocking Jepson eFlora Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising Reference: Borchert 2006 Ecol Res 21:641--650 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Marah Next taxon: Marah horrida
Jepson Video for Marah fabaceaClick to watch the video.
Citation for this treatment: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising 2012, Marah fabacea, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=101920, accessed on January 22, 2025.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2025, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on January 22, 2025.
Geographic subdivisions for Marah fabacea:
CA-FP (exc n NW, n CaR), w DMoj exc DMtns.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
