Cucumis anguria L., Cucurbitaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: gooseberry gourd, West Indian gherkin, wild cucumber

French: angourie des Antilles, concombre-cornichon, concombre marron, petit concombre

Spanish: anguria, cohombro espinoso, concombro, pepineto, pepino cimarrón, pepino de sabana, sandia de ratón

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual; stems prostrate or scandent, to 3 m., patent-setulose. Leaf-lamina 3-10 x 3.5-12-5 cm., broadly ovate in outline, broadly and shallowly cordate, punctate and setulose becoming scabrid-setose on veins beneath, scabrid-setulose becoming punctate above, margins ± sinuate-denticulate, palmately (3) 5 (7)-lobed, usually deeply, lobes narrowly to broadly elliptic, rhombic, obovate-elliptic or less often ovate-triangular or triangular, obtuse to rounded, apiculate, the central largest, often shortly 3-lobulate. Petiole 2-12 cm. long, patent-setulose. Flowers monoecious. male flowers 2-10 in subsessile fascicles; pedicels 6-30 mm. long. Receptacle-tube 2-4 mm. long, lobes 1.2-3 mm. long. Petals 3-7.5 mm. long, yellow. female flowers solitary, sometimes co-axillary with male; pedicels 18-105 mm. long; ovary 7-9 x 60-9 mm., broadly ellipsoid, shortly rostrate, softly spiny; perianth similar to that of male flower. Fruit 3-4.5 x 2.5-3.5 cm., ellipsoid to sub-globose, softly spiny, at least proximally, green or green striped paler green becoming yellow when ripe; spines 3-11 mm. long; fruit-stalk 2.5-21 cm. long, expanded upwards. Seeds 5-6 x 2.2-2.7 x 1.0-1.3 mm., elliptic in outline, compressed, with rounded margins, smooth" (Flora Zambesiaca online).

Habitat/ecology:  In its native range, "Woodland and wooded grassland, often on Kalahari sand, and on abandoned cultivated land 200-1500 m" (Flora Zambesiaca online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Southern Africa, cultivated and naturalized elsewhere in tropics (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Eiao Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced invasive	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1993) (voucher ID: BISH 633633) Taxon name on voucher: Cucumis anguria L.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 45) Voucher cited: MacKee 28885 Spontané

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)		Hafliger, Toni J./Wolf, Matthias (1988) (p. 233)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Cucumis anguria is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Cucumis anguria as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Cucumis anguria may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1993. Voucher specimen #BISH633633(Obata, J. s.n.).

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Hafliger, Toni J./Wolf, Matthias. 1988. Dicot weeds, vol. 1. CIBA-GEIGY Ltd., Basle, Switzerland. 335 pp.

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.