Wild Cucumber's small white fuzzy flowers and its long green vines streaming along everything caught my eyes when I walked around Santa Fe Dam Nature Center. Then, I noticed the large spiny seed pods. Very interesting. Don't let its name fool you - there is nothing edible about this plant, it is poisonous. Nonetheless, the root is purported to be bitter tasting, and this gave the plant the genus name Marah, which is a biblical reference of a place with bitter waters. macrocarpus refers to the large fruit. Native peoples are thought to have polished and used the seeds for jewelry or as marbles. The root may have had medicinal uses as a topical treatment for things like rheumatism.
當我在聖達菲大壩自然中心散步時，Wild Cucumber的白色小花和長長的綠色藤蔓隨處可見，吸引了我。然後我注意到大而多刺的種子莢。很有意思。別被它的名字騙了，這種植物不可食用，它是有毒的。雖然如此，據稱它的根有苦味。屬名中的 Marah 是指聖經中提到一個有苦水的地方，macrocarpus指的是大的果實。據說原住民會將種子拋光用於珠寶或大理石。根可能有藥用價值，可作為風濕病等疾病的局部外用治療。
Notes 筆記
- Marah macrocarpa known as chilicothe, wild cucumber, manroot or bigroot is a species of plant in the genus Marah. It is native to Southern California and Baja California. Its range extends from the Transverse Ranges and Channel Islands through the Peninsular Ranges.
- It grows by streams, in washes, and on slopes in chaparral and oak woodlands, at elevations up to 900 m (3,000 ft). It will tolerate a variety of soil types and acidities, but it requires seasonally moist soil.
- Marah macrocarpa has the most pubescent shoots, stems, and leaves of all the Marah species native to California. Vines appear in late winter in response to increased rainfall, and can climb or scramble to a length of 6 metres (20 ft). Vines develop leaves and, particularly, flowers and fruit very quickly, often with the first nodes of the quick-growing vines containing male and female flower heads. Its leaves typically have five lobes with individual plants showing wide variation in leaf size and lobe length.
- The flower can vary in color from yellowish green to cream to white. Flowers appear soon after the vine emerges. The flowers are monoecious, that is, individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant.
- The fruit is longer than it is wide and covered in prickles of variable density. Unripe fruit are bright green, ripening to yellow. The fruit swells as it ripens until finally rupturing and releasing the large seeds. Fruit begin to form in late winter and ripen by early summer.
- Seeds of Marah macrocarpa are large, hard, and very smooth. Fruits usually hold four or more seeds.
- All parts of the plant have a bitter taste. The large tuber of the manroot can be processed for a soap-like extract.
- Marah macrocarpa又被稱為chilicothe、野黃瓜(wild cucumber)、manroot 或 bigroot 是 Marah 屬的一種植物。它原產於南加州和下加利福尼亞州。 它的範圍從橫向山脈和海峽群島一直延伸到半島山脈。
- 它生長在海拔高達900公尺(3,000 英尺)的灌木叢和橡樹林的溪流旁、灌叢中和斜坡上。它可以耐受各種土壤類型和酸度，但需要季節性潮濕的土壤。
- Marah macrocarpa在所有原產於加州的Marah物種中有最多的短柔毛、莖和葉。藤蔓出現在晚冬以應對降雨量的增加，並且可以攀爬至6公尺(20英尺)的長度。藤蔓長出葉子，尤其是花和果實非常快，通常快速生長的藤蔓的第一個節點有雄性和雌性頭狀花序。它的葉子通常有五個裂片，植物在葉子大小和裂片長度上有很大的差異。
- 花的顏色可以從黃綠色到奶油色到白色不等。 藤蔓長出後不久就會開花。 花是雌雄同株的，即單花要麼是雄性要麼是雌性，但兩種性別都可以在同一株植物上找到。
- 果實長於寬，覆蓋著密度不一的刺。未成熟的果實呈鮮綠色，成熟時呈黃色。果實在成熟時膨脹，直到最終破裂並釋出大種子。果實在冬末開始形成，在初夏成熟。
- Marah macrocarpa 的種子又大又硬，而且非常光滑。果實通常含有四顆或更多種子。
- 它的所有部分都有苦味。它的大塊莖可以加工成肥皂狀提取物。
References 參考資料
- Wikipedia: Marah macrocarpa
- Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council (smmtd.org): Wild Cucumber
Plants Posts 植物的帖子