Exploding cucumber
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Exploding cucumber ( Cyclanthera brachystachya ) |
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| Cyclanthera brachystachya | ||||||||||||
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The Exploding cucumber ( Cyclanthera brachystachya ) is a plant of the genus Cyclanthera within the family of the Cucurbitaceae (Cucurbitaceae). It comes from Central America and the tropical Andean South America . It is used as an ornamental and vegetable plant.
description
Appearance and leaf
The exploding cucumber is an annual or short-lived perennial herbaceous plant . The stems of this climbing plant are several meters long. The bare tendrils , they are thread-like leaf tendrils , are divided in two and spiral around everything.
The alternate leaves are arranged in a petiole and a leaf blade. The bald petiole is 0.5 to 4 inches long. The membranous, palmate leaf blade is 2 to 10 centimeters long and roughly the same width in outline, broadly ovoid to circular and usually three or five lobed. The leaf lobes are ovate-triangular with a pointed upper end. The middle lobes are much larger than the lateral ones. There are two to six nectar glands on the heart-shaped base of the blades. The leaf margin is serrated.
Inflorescence and flower
The exploding cucumber is single sexed ( monoecious ). The flowering period lasts all summer. 8 to 50 male flowers are arranged in lateral, 8 to 25 millimeters long, paniculate inflorescences . The stems of the male flowers are 0.5 to 3 millimeters long, somewhat angular and hairy with fine downy hair. The stems of the female flowers are finely hairy and fluffy.
The relatively small, unisexual flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . In female and male flowers, the five whitish to pale yellow petals are fused and oval-triangular with a length of 0.75 to 1.5 millimeters and a width of 1 to 1.5 millimeters. In the male flowers, the flower cup has a diameter of 1 to 1.5 millimeters. The five sepals are fused cup-shaped and the calyx teeth are only rudimentary with a length of 0.3 millimeters . The disc of the male flowers has a diameter of 0.7 to 1 millimeters. The anthers form an unfolded ring. The theka opens unilocularly. The female flowers are larger than the male and are on 1 to 6 millimeter long stems. There are two carpels at a at a length of 3 to 5 millimeters ovoid lanceolate ovary intergrown. The rudimentary stylus ends in an almost spherical scar with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 millimeters.
Fruit and seeds
The fruit stalk is 0.5 to 1.5 inches long. The mostly green or rarely blue-green, prickly fruits are slightly curved and almost kidney-shaped with a length of 2 to 4 centimeters and a diameter of 1.4 to 2.5 centimeters. Their spines are 2 to 11 millimeters long. The fruits contain five to eight seeds each. With a length of 7 to 9 millimeters and a diameter of 5 to 7 millimeters, the seeds are almost cross-shaped, flattened with a truncated and three-toothed base and their edge is wrinkled.
ecology
The exploding cucumber is usually a therophyte .
The diaspores , they are the seeds, spread through autochory (self-spreading). The exploding cucumber gets its name from its slightly curved, prickly fruits . The placental ridge on which the seeds sit, which are directed towards the convex fruit skin, runs along the concave fruit skin. In this placental ridge there is a firm strand of conductive tissue that supplies the developing seeds . The seeds are located in a spongy tissue in the fruit . When the fruit ripens, increased pressure builds up in the inner layers of the outwardly curved fruit wall and causes an increasing tissue tension . The pericarp tears open at a weak point in the scar region, the convex part of the wall turns over to the outside at lightning speed and pulls the cord with it. The spongy fruit tissue tears during the explosion. When the fruit bursts, the seeds are thrown a few meters away.
Occurrence
Cyclanthera brachystachya is widespread in Central ( Guatemala , Costa Rica , El Salvador ) and South America ( Colombia , Venezuela , Ecuador ). It thrives in tropical Andean areas at altitudes of 800 to 2000 meters. Mostly it thrives in secondary vegetation and sometimes it is grown.
Taxonomy
The first description of Elaterium brachystachyum was in 1828 by Nicolas Charles Seringe in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis , 3, p. 310. The new combination to Cyclanthera brachystachya was made in 1878 by Alfred Cogniaux in Diagnoses de Cucurbitacées nouvelles et observations sur les espèces critiques ... , volume 1, 2, p. 64 published. Other synonyms for Cyclanthera brachystachya (Ser.) Cogn. are: Cyclanthera Bourgeauana Naudin , Cyclanthera brachybotrys . var achocchilla Cogn. , Cyclanthera costaricensis Cogn. , Cyclanthera costaricensis var. Angustiloba Cogn. , Cyclanthera elastica hort. ex Vilm. , Cyclanthera glauca Cogn. , Cyclanthera glauca var. Angustiloba Cogn. , Cyclanthera explodens Naudin . As lectotype in 1995 Sessé & mocino, Lámina XXXVIII icon. Fl. Mex. ined. , 1787-1803, Mexico (G) by Lira Saade in Estudios Taxonomicos y Ecogeograficos de las Cucurbitaceae Latinoamericanas de Importancia Economica. Systematic and Ecogeographic Studies on Crop Genepools. , P. 210.
use
Cyclanthera brachystachya is grown as a vegetable in the homeland and in some tropical areas . The fruits can be eaten raw or cooked. The fruits are eaten in salads, pickled, or cooked like pumpkins. The Spanish-speaking common name is Cuchinito.
Cyclanthera brachystachya is sometimes used as an ornamental plant.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o G. Davidse, M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp, F. Chiang Cabrera: Cucurbitaceae a Polemoniaceae. Volume 4, 1, I-XVI, 2009. 1-855. In: G. Davidse, M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp, F. Chiang Cabrera (eds.): Cyclanthera brachystachya at Tropicos.org. In: Flora Mesoamericana . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Cyclanthera brachystachya at Tropicos.org. In: Flora de Nicaragua . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ a b c d e Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ a b Autochorie (self-propagation) in pumpkin plants ( Memento from February 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) http://www.tu-darmstadt.de/fb/bio/bot/autochorie/index.html ( Memento from February 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) PDF.
- ↑ a b c Cyclanthera brachystachya in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ Nicolas Charles Seringe scanned in at biodiversitylibrary.org in 1828 .
- ↑ Cyclanthera brachystachya at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed February 16, 2016.
- ^ A b R. Kilian, W. Kilian: Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: (Except Ornamentals) . Ed .: - Peter Hanelt. Springer Science & Business Media, 2001, ISBN 978-3-540-41017-1 , pp. 1555 ( Cyclanthera brachystachya on p. 1555 in the Google book search).
- ↑ a b Cyclanthera brachystachya in Plants For A Future
- ↑ Data sheet with photos of the exploding cucumber Cyclanthera brachystachya ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Simon's holiday: www.ethno-botanik.org , 2015.
- ↑ a b data sheet with photos at Useful Tropical Plants Database .
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