After exploring the Theodore Payne nursery I climbed their Wild Flower Hill Trail "a ¾ mile walk through chaparral and coastal sage scrub." Part way up the hill I came across this, naturally it was the spikes that got my attention.
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Then I saw another...
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And another...
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The inner chambers reminded me of the yucca seed pod I recently wrote about (here).
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I looked around for any hint as to where these interesting pods were coming from. I saw one a ways off the trail...
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I found a very dried speciman...
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And a more intact version.
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This one was the first time I saw any clue to its origins, did it come from that dried up tangly business?
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Here I had to laugh. It was as though whatever little creature calls that hole home had hauled the fruit in question all the way there, then decided to leave it outside, or threw it outside when it was done.
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Here was when my suspicion I was dealing with a vine was finally verified.
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When I got back down to the information desk I produced a couple of the spiky fruit that I'd collected and asked what exactly the plant was. I was told wild cucumber vine; Echinocystis lobata when I looked it up. That sent me researching and at first everything matched up. Then I watched this video of the exploding cucumbers (expelling their seeds). They were so much smaller than what I saw. Then I looked at this map showing where the vine grows, if you click on the link you'll see it is absent/unreported in California. Then I read the fruit has two chambers, what I'd collected clearly had four. So back to Uncle Google and there I discovered another wild cucumber vine, Marah macrocarpa. This one is native to Southern California and definitely has the same, large, fruit I saw. Plus..."the vines emerge from a large, hard tuberous root that can extend several meters and weigh over 200 pounds. One manroot found by Rancho Santa Ana Bontanic Garden was reported to weigh 467 pounds after being removed from the soil" well that's pretty cool! Click on over to this website for a look at what that large, hard tuberous root looks like.
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Weather Diary, Jan 8: Hi 48, Low 36/ Precip .21
All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Then I saw another...
And another...
The inner chambers reminded me of the yucca seed pod I recently wrote about (here).
I looked around for any hint as to where these interesting pods were coming from. I saw one a ways off the trail...
I found a very dried speciman...
And a more intact version.
This one was the first time I saw any clue to its origins, did it come from that dried up tangly business?
Here I had to laugh. It was as though whatever little creature calls that hole home had hauled the fruit in question all the way there, then decided to leave it outside, or threw it outside when it was done.
Here was when my suspicion I was dealing with a vine was finally verified.
When I got back down to the information desk I produced a couple of the spiky fruit that I'd collected and asked what exactly the plant was. I was told wild cucumber vine; Echinocystis lobata when I looked it up. That sent me researching and at first everything matched up. Then I watched this video of the exploding cucumbers (expelling their seeds). They were so much smaller than what I saw. Then I looked at this map showing where the vine grows, if you click on the link you'll see it is absent/unreported in California. Then I read the fruit has two chambers, what I'd collected clearly had four. So back to Uncle Google and there I discovered another wild cucumber vine, Marah macrocarpa. This one is native to Southern California and definitely has the same, large, fruit I saw. Plus..."the vines emerge from a large, hard tuberous root that can extend several meters and weigh over 200 pounds. One manroot found by Rancho Santa Ana Bontanic Garden was reported to weigh 467 pounds after being removed from the soil" well that's pretty cool! Click on over to this website for a look at what that large, hard tuberous root looks like.
Weather Diary, Jan 8: Hi 48, Low 36/ Precip .21
All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.