PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
No image available
Cucurbitaceae FAMILY

Ecballium elaterium

Ecballium elaterium

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

Poisonous in large quantities[1] (this probably refers to the fruit). The juice of the fruit is irritative to some skins[2]. The fruit juice is considered to be toxic, affecting the respiratory, cardiac and gastric systems plus any mucous membranes it makes contact with[3].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Ecballium elaterium is a plant mainly of Mediterranean climates and can only be grown outdoors in the milder regions of the temperate zone. The foliage is fairly frost-tender, though the roots are considerably hardier and can tolerate several degrees of frost. Giving the roots a thick, organic mulch when the plant dies down in the autumn can help it survive in hardiness zones as low as 7 or perhaps even 6. Plants are more likely to be killed by excessive winter wet[4]. Requires a moist well-drained soil in a sunny position[4, 5]. Grows best in a rich soil[6]. Another report says that it succeeds in poor soils[7]. The squirting cucumber has a history of cultivation for its use as a medicinal plant, though it is probably little, if at all, cultivated at present[8, 9]. The ripening fruit becomes pumped full of liquid, leading to an increase in pressure. As the seed becomes ripe, this pressure forces the fruit to break away explosively from the plant, ejecting its seed to a considerable distance in the opposite direction[PFAF]. There are two main forms of this plant, distinguised by their flowers. One produces monoecious flowers (male and female flowers are separate but both are on the same plant), whilst the other produces dioecious flowers (each plant produces either all male or all female flowers)[3].

Propagation

Seed - sow early spring in rich compost in a greenhouse. Place 2 - 3 seeds per pot and thin to the strongest plant. The seed usually germinates in 10 - 21 days at 25°c[10]. Grow the plants on fast and plant them out after the last expected frosts. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Ecballium+elaterium>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. — Chiej. R. · MacDonald · 1984 · ISBN 0-356-10541-5 ↩︎Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.
  2. [2]Herbs of Greece. — Niebuhr. A. D. · Herb Society of America. · 1970 · ISBN - ↩︎A pleasant little book about Greek herbs.
  3. [3]Bryonia alba L. and Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Rich. - Two related species of the Cucurbitaceae family with importa — Irina Ielciu; Michel Feédérich; Monique Tits; Luc Angenot; R · 2016 ↩︎
  4. [4]Gourds. — Organ. J. · Faber · 1963 · ISBN - ↩︎Deals with squashes and their relatives. Interesting and readable, it gives cultivation techniques and some details of plant uses.
  5. [5]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  6. [6]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  7. [7]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  8. [8]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  10. [10]Focus on Plants. Volume 5. (formerly 'Growing from seed') — Bird. R. (Editor) · Thompson and Morgan. · 1991 · ISBN - ↩︎Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. A good article on Corydalis spp.
  11. [11]Flowers of Greece and the Balkans. — Polunin. O. · Oxford University Press · 1980 · ISBN 0-19-217626-9 ↩︎A good pocket flora, it also lists quite a few plant uses.
  12. [12]The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism — Stuart. M. (Editor) · Orbis Publishing. London. · 1979 · ISBN 0-85613-067-2 ↩︎Excellent herbal with good concise information on over 400 herbs.
  13. [13]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  14. [14]Flowers of the Mediterranean. — Polunin. O. and Huxley. A. · Hogarth Press · 1987 · ISBN 0-7012-0784-1 ↩︎A very readable pocket flora that is well illustrated. Gives some information on plant uses.
  15. [15]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  16. [16]Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). — Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. · Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.
  17. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎