Squirt cucumber

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Squirt cucumber
Ecballium elaterium fruit and flower.jpg

Splash cucumber ( Ecballium elaterium )

Systematics
Rosids
Eurosiden I
Order : Pumpkin-like (Cucurbitales)
Family : Pumpkin family (Cucurbitaceae)
Genre : Ecballium
Type : Squirt cucumber
Scientific name of the  genus
Ecballium
A.Rich.
Scientific name of the  species
Ecballium elaterium
( L. ) A. Rich.

The squirting cucumber ( Ecballium elaterium ) even donkey cucumber called, is the only kind of plant genus Ecballium within the family of cucurbits (Cucurbitaceae). It is widespread in the Mediterranean area , known for its mechanism of propagation and is used as an ornamental plant.

description

illustration
Habit, leaves and flowers
Five-fold bloom

Vegetative characteristics

The squirting cucumber is a perennial , herbaceous plant . It does not form tendrils . The mostly prostrate or climbing stems are thick, fleshy, hairy, heavily branched and are 20 to 150 cm long.

The alternate leaves are arranged in a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf stalk is up to 13 cm long. The relatively thick leaf blade , with stiff hair on the underside, is 4 to 10 cm long and is undivided oval to palmate, lobed to split with a heart-shaped blade base.

Generative characteristics

Ecballium elaterium is monoecious or dioecious depending on the subspecies , the flowers are always unisexual, but can occur together on one or on separate individuals. The flowers are in leaf axils, the male in racemes, the female individually. The flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five pale yellow sepals are 1.5 to 2 cm long and fused together like a bell. The five petals are fused bell-shaped. One of the five stamens is free, the rest are fused together in pairs.

The fruit is an armored berry .

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 18 or 24.

fruit

Propagation Mechanism

The spray cucumber has the spreading mechanism of the juice pressure spreader, which is rather rare in the vegetable kingdom . The fruit is structured similarly to the other cucurbits and consists of three intergrown carpels , which leave an inner cavity ( paracarpy ), whereby this cavity is filled with the carpel flanks, the placenta and the seeds. In the case of the squirt cucumber, this filling or swelling tissue is under a very high turgor pressure at the time of seed ripening and has an osmotic potential of up to −1.5 M Pa . This will stretch the wall of the armored berry elastically. An annular predetermined breaking point forms at the point where the stalk attaches. The fruit stalk is straight up, the last piece is curved so that the fruit points diagonally to the earth. When ripe, the stalk is thrown away by the internal pressure, the stretched pericarp contracts, the inside of the fruit with the seeds is thrown out, the fruit itself is thrown in the opposite direction by the recoil. The seeds are distributed in this way 10 to 12 m. Since they also have elaiosomes , ants spread them further.

Ingredients and effects

All parts of the plant are highly poisonous. The active ingredient is usually called Elaterin , but consists of a mixture of different substances, especially cucurbitacin E and I, as well as sterling glycosides, the exact composition of which depends on the age of the plant. The formation of the poison probably takes place in the roots, from where it is transported into the leaves.

After oral intake follow diarrhea , colic , vomiting, headache, rapid pulse , intestinal irritation , watery to bloody stool . Deaths are also known. The juice of the fruit can cause inflammation on the skin.

distribution

The squirt cucumber is native to the entire Mediterranean region . The area ranges from Armenia to Macaronesia . In Central Europe, it rarely grows wild and inconsistent and grows here as an annual plant mainly on ruderal sites , as it only overwinters as a seed due to a lack of winter hardiness. It occurs in Central Europe in societies of the Sisymbrion Union. In the Mediterranean area, it is a species of the Chenopodion muralis association.

Systematics

The first publication took place in 1753 under the name ( Basionym ) Momordica elaterium by Carl von Linné . The new combination to Ecballium elaterium (L.) A.Rich. was published by Achille Richard in 1824 . Generic name Ecballium A.Rich. nom. cons. was in Melbourne ICN Art. 14.4 & App. III preserved against Elaterium Mill. Nom. rej.

Ecballium elaterium is the only species of the genus Ecballium from the tribe Bryonieae in the subfamily Cucurbitoideae within the family Cucurbitaceae . Its sister taxon is the genus Bryonia , which is also native to the Mediterranean region .

Two subspecies are distinguished within the species:

  • Ecballium elaterium subsp. elaterium is monoecious and has a chromosome number of 2n = 18.
  • Ecballium elaterium subsp. dioicum (Batt.) Costich is diocese.

The two subspecies hybridize freely, and the diocese is only determined by one gene.

use

The spray cucumber is often grown as an ornamental plant due to its spreading mechanism. In folk medicine it is used, among other things, as a remedy for jaundice . It has also been used as a drastic laxative since ancient times. The drug obtained from the squirting cucumber is called Elaterium album (formerly, e.g. with Pliny , also called elacterium ).

literature

  • Denise ET Costich: Ecballium . In: Santiago Castroviejo Bolibar & al .: Flora iberica. Plantas vasculares de la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares. Vol. III - Plumbaginaceae (partim) - Capparaceae. Real Jardín Botánico Madrid 2005, pp. 456–458. ISBN 84-00-06221-3 . (on-line)
  • Manfred A. Fischer, Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 3rd, improved edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2008, ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9 .

Web links

Commons : Spritzgurke ( Ecballium elaterium )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Sitte , Elmar Weiler , Joachim W. Kadereit , Andreas Bresinsky , Christian Körner : Textbook of botany for universities . Founded by Eduard Strasburger . 35th edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8274-1010-X , p. 485 .
  2. ↑ Peter Leins, Claudia Erbar: Blossom and Fruit. Aspects of morphology, evolutionary history, phylogeny, function and ecology . Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-510-65194-4 , pp. 319 f .
  3. ↑ a b c Lutz Roth , Max Daunderer , Kurt Kormann : Toxic Plants - Plant Poisons. Poisonous plants from AZ. Emergency assistance. Occurrence. Effect. Therapy. Allergic and phototoxic reactions . 4th edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-933203-31-7 (reprint from 1994).
  4. ^ Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp.  680 .
  5. ↑ Alexander Kocyan, Li-Bing Zhang, Hanno Schaefer, Susanne S. Renner : A multi-locus chloroplast phylogeny for the Cucurbitaceae and its implications for character evolution and classification. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , Volume 44, August 2007, pp. 553-577. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2006.12.022 , full text (PDF; 381 kB)
  6. ^ H. Schaefer, Susanne S. Renner : Phylogenetic relationships in the order Cucurbitales and a new classification of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae). In Taxon, Volume 60, 2011, pp. 122-138.
  7. ↑ Denise ET Costich: Ecballium . In: Santiago Castroviejo Bolibar & al .: Flora iberica. Plantas vasculares de la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares. Vol. III - Plumbaginaceae (partim) - Capparaceae. Real Jardín Botánico Madrid 2005, pp. 456–458. ISBN 84-00-06221-3 . (on-line)
  8. ↑ C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historia. Edited by D. Detlefsen , Berlin 1866–1882, Book III, pp. 206–208 (chap. 20, 3–10)