Minnesota Seasons - wild cucumber

Conservation • Wetland • Description • Habitat • Ecology • Use • Distribution • Taxonomy


Conservation Status
IUCN Red List	not listed
NatureServe	N5 - Secure SNR - Unranked
Minnesota	not listed


Wetland Indicator Status
Great Plains	FAC - Facultative
Midwest	FACW - Facultative wetland
Northcentral & Northeast	FACW - Facultative wetland

Photo by Alfredo Colon

Description

Wild cucumber is an annual, herbaceous, high-climbing vine. It has separate male and female flowers, both appearing on the same plant.

The stems are hairless and can extend 15′ to 25′.

The tendrils are branched.

The leaves are alternate and are attached to the vine on long leaf stalks. They are 2¾″ to 5″ long. They have 3 to 7 but usually 5 sharply-trialgular lobes with pointed tips. The margins have tiny, widely-spaced teeth.

The male and female flowers are borne separately from the same leaf axils. The male inflorescence is a 12″ to 16″ long, erect cluster of many flowers. The female inflorescence is a solitary flower or a pair of flowers.

The flowers are white or greenish-white, about ⅓″ wide, and star-shaped. They have 6 thin, long petals.

The fruits are attached individually. Each fruit is a green, inflated, egg-shaped capsule. It is 1″ to 2″ long and is covered with soft prickles. It contains 4 seeds.

Height

Climbimg: 15′ to 25′ long

Flower Color

White or greenish-white

Similar Species

Bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus) leaves are more shallowly-lobed. The flowers have 5 petals. The fruit is smaller, no more than ⅝″ long; is not inflated; and contains only 1 seed.

Canada moonseed (Menispermum canadense) leaves are more shallowly-lobed. The leaf stalk attaches to the blade a little less than ½″ inside the margin.

Habitat

Wet to moist. Riverbottoms, streambanks, thickets, woods, roadsides.

Ecology

Flowering

July to September

Pests and Diseases

Use


Distribution
		Sources 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 28, 29, 30.
3/12/2025

Nativity
Native

Occurrence
Common


Taxonomy
Kingdom	Plantae (green algae and land plants)
Subkingdom	Viridiplantae (green plants)
Infrakingdom	Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)
Superdivision	Embryophyta (land plants)
Division	Tracheophyta (vascular plants)
Subdivision	Spermatophytina (seed plants) / Angiospermae (flowering plants)
Class	Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)
Superorder	Rosanae
Order	Cucurbitales (begonias, gourds, and allies)
Family	Cucurbitaceae (gourd)
Subfamily	Cucurbitoideae
Tribe	Sicyoeae
Genus	Echinocystis

Subordinate Taxa


Synonyms
Echinocystis echinata Micrampelis echinata Micrampelis lobata Momordica echinata Sicyos lobata Sicyos lobatus

Common Names
balsam-apple bur-cucumber mock cucumber mock-apple prickly cucumber wild balsamapple wild balsam-apple wild cucumber wild cucumber vine wild mock cucumber wild mockcucumber

Glossary

Axil

The upper angle where the leaf stalk meets the stem.


Visitor Photos

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Luciearl


Alfredo Colon


MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos



Vine		Inflorescence


Leaf		Leaf


Fruit

Camera

Slideshows

Echinocystis lobata (Wild Cucumber)
Allen Chartier

slideshow


Visitor Videos

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Other Videos

Wild Cucumber
TheSJNature

About

Uploaded on Mar 19, 2010

- A very odd plant. This plant grows big spicky fruits.

Weed of the Week #855 - Wild Cucumber (Air Date 8/23/14)
AgPhD's channel

About

Published on Aug 29, 2014

It's our Weed of the Week, Wild Cucumber (which in no way can be turned into Wild Pickles).

Wild Cucumber (Echinocystis lobata)
PrairieMoonNursery

About

Uploaded on Aug 24, 2011

http://www.prairiemoon.com Wild Cucumber is an annual native vine reaching lengths of 20' or more with very delicate white flowers late summer. The 'cucumber' appears early fall and drops large seeds, repeating the cycle.

Soldier beetle forages on wild cucumber
Robert Klips

About

Uploaded on Aug 26, 2011

The Pennsylvania leatherwing, Chauliognathus pensylvanicus (Cantharidae) is a soldier beetle that is very common on flowers. Here, an individual as apparently foraging for pollen on the staminate flowers of wild cucumber, Echinocystis lobata growing along a road in Delaware County, Ohio, USA on August 26, 2011.

Wild Cucumber
Mike Kennedy

About

Published on Sep 7, 2014

I find a wild cucumber plant. Not edible! check here for great info: http://www.naturemanitoba.ca/botany/wildPlants/WildCucumber.pdf

Camcorder


Visitor Sightings

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Luciearl 3/11/2025	Location: Fairview Twp.


Alfredo Colon 8/30/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota


Alfredo Colon 8/9/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota


Alfredo Colon 8/7/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

Nina Salveson
8/23 and 8/24/2018

Location: Highway 5 and Cty Hwy 10 between Waconia and Chaska - its everywhere and completely blanketing trees, pines, maples and shrubs. I also see it from Hwy 5 on the U-MN Landscape Arboretum property.

Will this harm the beautiful trees it is engulfing and completely covering?

John Valo
8/25/2018

The vines are weak, so I would not expect the tree to be damaged by it. However, it is considered a weed, it is unsightly in a yard, and it will return next year. Wild cucumber is easy to control by pulling the vine, preferably before it goes to seed.

Matt Trost
9/5/2017

Location: My Yard, Coon Rapids, MN

I will be killing the plant as we have pets who like vegetables.