#melothria pendula

[rjalker]

[ID: Seven pictures of a creeping cucumber plant and several of its fruits.

The first three pictures show fruits, both ripe and unripe hanging on the plant. The fruits are small green ovals that range from light to dark green with light spots, like tiny cucumbers, to smooth black. The leaves are light green and spiky. A fw tiny yellow flowers are visible.

The next four pictures show a white hand holding several ripe fruits, then holding them up to unripe fruits to show the difference. The last picture shows a different handful of ripe fruits that are partly dried and winkled, all of them solid black.

End ID.]

Creeping cucumbers that are being collected to save seed from from our plant, which we took as a cutting from a wild plant two years ago. The original plant, unfortunately, has been murdered by McDonalds, so this is all that remains. I will make sure some of the seeds are planted in the wild to continue the genetic line. 🫡 [a saluting emoji].

The ripe fruits from this species are not safe to eat, they have extreme laxative properties when eaten by people, but are eaten by many other types of wild animals. We are only harvesting them to save seeds.

The unripe fruits, the green ones with the spots, are safe to eat, and as their name implies, taste like tiny cucumbers. Because this is just a tiny itty bitty cousin of the domestic cucumber.

This species is native to North America, and if you're in or around Savannah, Georgia, at the very least, you can find it in a lot of places if you know what to look for.

We have it in a pot with a tomato cage, but eventually we'll have to get it a proper trellis, as these can grow big enough to climb up trees and hang their fruits 30ft overhead.

fun fact - fire ants will also be happy to eat the ripe berries, which I know because of trying to save seeds from one that had climbed a tree and had to wait until its ripe fruits fell down.

The scientific name is Melothria pendula, because the fruits hang from the vine like the pendulum of a clock.

A lot of scammers online will call them "mouse melons" and photoshop the inside to be red and claim they're tiny watermelons. Do not fall for it.

To save seeds, as with many small fruits, you place the ripe fruits in a bowl or cup of cool water, squish them, pick out the skins, and strain the seeds through a mesh, or if they're too small for that, drain off most of the water and put them on a paper plate. Let them dry somewhere for at least a week, preferably longer, then store them with a label marking the species, date (at least mark the year), and if applicable, the specific plant they came from.

The seeds for these are little solid yellow-white disks.

We started this clone from pieces of stem buried in soil. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, so take multiple stems (if the main plant is big enough not to hurt it, don't try cloning little babies) and try with multiple containers.

[skyefromthefuture]

Reading the threatened and endangered species list for Illinois. Do we stan a Bigeye Chub (Hybopsis amblops). Are there any lovers of Squirting Cucumber (Melothria pendula). Someone out there is an authority on the River Cooter (Pseudemys conccinna).

[inaturalist-propaganda]

[ID: Five photos showing the different features of a creeping cucumber plant, with a white hand for scale.

The plant is growing as a thin vine, with small leaves shaped like hearts that have had two triangles cut out of the bottom, giving it three points. The leaves are about half the length of the person’s finger, and have many small, white spots on them that blend in.

The plant has small very small flowers, solid yellow, with five petals shaped like pentagons, and slightly larger fruit, about the size of the person’s fingertip, light green with lighter spots, shaped like a tiny watermelon. Some are newly formed, and are smaller and skinnier, with dried flowers still hanging from the ends.

End ID.]

Link to observation

The unripe fuits can be eaten raw or cooked. 

The ripened, purple or black fruits should be avoided, because they are apparently very strong laxatives. You can collect those to save seeds from, but don’t eat them.

I tried one of the light green fruits on here, and it tasted like a cucumber, but slightly more sour.

[bax16]

@clinicalherbalist @cactguy @offthebeatenpathtexas @momentspause I found some Guadalupe cucumber (Melothria pendula) growin wild on the banks of the Colorado River! It was on the Austin County side of the river under the highway, where it smells strongly of dog shit. These're supposed to be choice edibles when young and green. But when they ripen they turn black and become extremely powerful laxatives. Just one is supposed to be enough to dehydrate you dangerously, so ideally you'd wanna eat em fresh and as soon as possible. I didn't eat these ones even though they're perfect cause I dunno where the smell was comin from haha

[rjalker]

https://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/10/creeping-cucumber.html

this is a site for Texas, but it has more information on the creeping cucumber!