Echinocystis lobata

Native

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

July to September

White or greenish-white

Climbimg: 15′ to 25′ long

This 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.

Bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus) leaves are more shallowly-lobed. The flowers have 5 petals. The fruit is smaller, 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.