Echinocystis lobata, commonly called wild cucumber, prickly cucumber or bur cucumber

Echinocystis is a monotypic genus in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. The sole species is E. lobata, commonly called wild cucumber, prickly cucumber or bur cucumber. It is an annual, sprawling plant that is native to North America. Echinocystis lobata is an annual vine that produces stems that can be as long as 8 m (26 ft) and which climb, with the help of coiling, branched tendrils, over shrubs and fences or trail across the ground. The stems are angular and furrowed. The leaves are alternate with long petioles, five palmate lobes and no stipules. The flowers are monoecious, with separate male and female blooms on the same plant. The male flowers are in long-stemmed, upright panicles. Each flower has a white, or greenish-yellow, corolla with six slender lobes. The male flower has a single central stamen with a yellow anther. The female flower has a single stigma and is borne on a short stalk at the base of the flower panicle, with the spiky globular inferior ovary being immediately beneath. The fruit is a prickly, inflated capsule up to 5 cm (2 in) long with two pores and four seeds. It resembles a tiny spiny water melon, or cucumber, but is inedible (hence the name “bur cucumber“). It persists all winter and then opens at the bottom, liberating the seeds. This species can be distinguished from the oneseed bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus) by the six-lobed corolla and the lack of the clustered fruits that that plant bears. It also appears similar to Marah macrocarpa (also known as wild cucumber) which has a six-lobed corolla as well and is found in Southern California chaparral where E. lobata is not. The native range across North America includes forty U.S. states (excluding Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska, and most of the far Southeastern states); and nine Canadian provinces. It has also been reported as an uncommon invasive species in the Örség Landscape Protection Area of Hungary near the Austrian-Slovenian border. Similarly it is reported as an adventive alien species that grew in wetland, grassland and human-affected areas of the Carei Plain natural protected area, western Romania. This vine has been reported as a food source and host plant for the leaf-footed bug Anasa repetita, which feeds along the entire length of the stem and at the developing roots. Specimens collected in September 2006 from a E. lobata in Grant County, Wisconsin were the first recording of the bug in that state. Additionally, the pentatomid species Euschistus servus euschistoides is recorded as feeding on developing E. lobata fruit. Robertson in 1928 reported that 2 different species of parasitoid hymenopterans had been collected from E. lobata flowers in central Illinois. Both the scoliid wasp Scolia bicincta and the tiphid wasp Myzinum quinquecinctum nectared on the flowers, along with a number of other flower species. The beetle species Chauliognathus pensylvanicus is listed as visiting the wild flowers growing in Wisconsin. E. lobata has been shown to be susceptible to bacterial wilt, a disease caused by infection of the plants with the bacterium Erwinia tracheiphila. Bacteria are transmitted between plants by the Striped cucumber beetle Acalymma vittatum. As the adult beetles feed they also drop frass on fresh areas of feeding which results in infection of the plant. The susceptibility of E. lobata, Cucurbita foetidissima, Cucurbita californica and Sicyos angulatus to bacterial wilt was identified via experiments by E. M. Smith in 1911. The plant has been used medicinally by native Americans. The Taos Pueblo of New Mexico used it to treat rheumatism, while the Menominee of Wisconsin made a bitter extract from the roots for use as a love potion and as an analgesic. The powdered root has been used to prepare a poultice to relieve headaches and the seeds have been used as beads. Echinocystis 是葫芦科葫芦科的单型属。唯一的品种是 E. lobata，通常称为野生黄瓜、刺黄瓜或刺黄瓜。它是一种一年生、蔓延的植物，原产于北美洲。 Echinocystis lobata 是一种一年生藤本植物，可产生长达 8 m (26 ft) 的茎，在盘绕、分枝的卷须的帮助下攀爬灌木和栅栏或穿过地面的小径。茎是有角的和有皱纹的。叶互生长叶柄，五掌状裂片，无托叶。花是雌雄同株的，在同一株植物上有单独的雄花和雌花。雄花长茎，直立圆锥花序。每朵花都有一个白色或黄绿色的花冠，有六个细长的裂片。雄花有一个带有黄色花药的中央雄蕊。雌花有一个柱头，长在花圆锥花序基部的短茎上，尖状的球状下子房就在下面。果实是一个多刺、膨胀的蒴果，长达 5 厘米（2 英寸），有两个孔和四颗种子。它类似于一个微小的多刺西瓜或黄瓜，但不可食用（因此得名“bur黄瓜”）。它持续整个冬天，然后在底部打开，释放种子。该物种可以通过六裂的花冠和缺乏该植物所结的簇状果实而与单籽刺黄瓜（Sicyos angulatus）区分开来。它看起来也类似于 Marah macrocarpa（也称为野生黄瓜），它也有一个六裂的花冠，在南加州丛林中发现，而 E. lobata 则没有。 北美的原生范围包括美国四十个州（不包括内华达州、夏威夷州、阿拉斯加州和东南部的大部分州）；和九个加拿大省。据报道，在奥地利-斯洛文尼亚边境附近的匈牙利 Örség ​​景观保护区，它是一种罕见的入侵物种。同样，据报道，它是一种外来外&a