Plant Name
Scientific Name: Marah gilensis
Common Names: Gila Manroot, Wild Cucumber
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Vine, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland, Riparian. This plant grows along washes and streams, typically under mesquite trees or large shrubs.
Flower Color: Cream to greenish white
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: Twining to 6 feet (1.8 m) tall or more
Description: The flowers are 3/8 inches (10 mm) across and star-shaped with 5 round-tipped lobes. The flowers are followed by round, spiny, green melons that are up to 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. The leaves are hairy, green, and palmately-lobed with 5 to 7 broad lobes. The stems are slender and climbing with twining tendrils. This plant grows from a very large underground tuber.
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: Marah Kellogg – manroot
Species: Marah gilensis Greene – Gila manroot
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