Cucurbitaceae FAMILY

Cucumis maderaspatanus

Edibility

0/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

Grazing animals eat the leaves, but the fruit is believed to be deadly poisonous to cattle[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/ ]. In India cattle are said to like the plant but that the fruits destroy their eyes[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/ ].

Botanical Description

Cucumis maderaspatanus is an annual plant, trailing along the ground or scrambling into other plants where it supports itself by means of tendrils. It produces stems up to about 4 metres long[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/ ]. The plant is often gathered from the wild for local medicinal use.

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeWidespread throughout the tropics of Africa, through Asia to Australia.

HabitatOpen, not forested, localities[ 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/ ]. Flood-plain and valley grasslands, riverine margins and damper places in woodland and wooded grasslands at elevations of 300 - 1,250 metres[ 308 Title Flora Zambesiaca Publication Author Website http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants. ].