Biorepository Data Portal

Annual herbaceous vine to 6 m or longer Stem: climbing. Leaves: alternate, hairy-stalked, heart-shaped to circular in outline, toothed, sharply angled or having three to five shallow lobes with pointed tips. Flowers: either male or female, found on the same plant (monoecious), small, white or greenish, the calyx five-toothed, the corolla flat and circular in outline and five-lobed. Male flowers are borne in loose inflorescences, while female flowers are borne in small dense clusters. Fruit: borne in clusters, about 1.5 cm long, egg-shaped, dry, not inflated, covered with prickly bristles, not breaking open at maturity, one-seeded. Tendrils: branched.

Similar species: Echinocystis lobata differs by having deeply lobed leaves, a six-lobed corolla, and inflated fruit that opens at the tip and contains four seeds.

Flowering: July to late September

Habitat and ecology: Occasional in low or floodplain woodlands, frequent in the Kankakee River valley.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Sicyos is the Greek word for cucumber. Angulatus means angular.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Climbing sometimes to several m; lvs orbicular in outline, shallowly 3-5-lobed, usually with a deep basal sinus, the lobes denticulate, acuminate; pistillate peduncles eventually 5-8 cm, the staminate usually longer; staminate cor 8-10 mm wide, lobed to the middle; fr ovoid, 1.5 cm, hairy and spiny; 2n=24. Damp soil; Me. and Que. to Minn., s. to Fla. and Ariz. July, Aug.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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