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Sicyos angulatus

Common name:	Bur Cucumber	Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	43, 200, 235
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Eastern N. America - Quebec and Ontario to Florida, west to South Dakota, Kansas and Texas.
Habitat:	River banks and damp yards[43].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Burcucumber [L], Chocho Vine [L], Cucumber,Bur [E], One-seed Burr-cucumber [B], Oneseed Burr Cucumber [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	angulatus = angular
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Violales. Cucumber family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Us(Pa)
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Delaware, Indiana.

Physical Characteristics

Annual Climber growing to 8m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 9 and is frost tender. It is in flower from July to September, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Fruit Leaves.

Leaves - cooked[105, 173, 183]. They can be cooked as greens[2].
The fruit is said to be edible[105, 183]. Possibly the seed is edible but there is no flesh on the fruit, it is just a bristly skin around the seed[K]. The fruit is about 1cm long and is borne in small clusters[200].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

VD.

A decoction of the vine has been used in the treatment of venereal disease[257].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Easily grown in a sunny position in a moderately fertile soil.
The young growth in spring can be damaged by late frosts.
A very fast growing plant, capable of producing shoots up to 8 metres long in the first year from seed. The plant can be grown to provide a summer screen[200].
This species occasionally self-sows[K].

Propagation

Seed - sow in mid spring in a greenhouse. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots once they are large enough to handle. Make sure the compost is fairly rich and grow the plants fast. Plant them out after the last expected frosts and consider giving them some protection such as a cloche until they are growing away actively.
The seed can also be sown in situ in late spring, though this sowing might not produce mature seeds and fruit in cool summers. Plants have self-sown in &ndndndnd.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[173] Crowe. A. Native Edible Plants of New Zealand. Hodder and Stoughton 1990 ISBN 0-340-508302
A very well written and illustrated book based on the authors own experiments with living on a native diet.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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