Plant Name

Scientific Name: Apodanthera undulata

Common Name: Melon Loco

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Vine, Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland

Flower Color: Yellow

Flowering Season: Summer

Height: Trailing up to 10 feet (3 m) long

Description: These gender diphasic (sex-switching) plants switch from having numerous male flowers to larger, solitary female flowers. The 5-lobed flowers average about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) long. The leaves are rounded, green, hairy and heavily ruffled. The mature melons are green and have raised, longitudinal ridges. The melons are bitter and supposedly taste bad enough that you would have to be loco (insane) to eat one.

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: Apodanthera Arn. – apodanthera
Species: Apodanthera undulata A. Gray – melon loco

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map
Melon Loco (Apodanthera undulata) – The Firefly Forest