Plant Name
Scientific Name: Echinopepon wrightii
Synonym: Elaterium wrightii
Common Names: Wild Balsam Apple, Wright's Melon
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Vine, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Riparian. It grows in and along washes and in mountain foothill canyons.
Flower Color: White
Flowering Season: Summer, Fall
Height: Climbing to 5 feet (1.5 m) tall or more
Description: The plants are monoecious (having both male and female flowers). The pistillate flowers are solitary and the 1/3 inch (8 mm) wide staminate flowers are in racemes. The flowers have fused anthers and are broadly tubular with 5 glandular lobes. The flowers are followed by oval, 3/4 inch (2 cm) long, green fruit with long, hairy spines. The leaves are alternate, broadly heart-shaped, and only shallowly lobed. The stems are slender, hairy, and have twining, forked tendrils.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Dilleniidae
Order: Violales
Family: Cucurbitaceae – Cucumber family
Genus: Echinopepon Naud. – balsam apple
Species: Echinopepon wrightii (A. Gray) S. Watson – wild balsam apple
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