Melothria pendula Linnaeus. Common name: Melonette, Creeping Cucumber, Mouse Melon, Meloncito, Guaquillo. Phenology: Jun-Nov. Habitat: Bottomland forests, moist roadsides and disturbed areas, marshes. Distribution: DC, MD, and VA west to IN, south to FL and TX; also widespread in the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and South America.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, Bah, C, F, Fl2, FNA6, G, GW2, Il, K4, Meso4.1, Mex, NcTx, POWO, RAB, Tn, Tx, Va, W, WH3; = n/a — Tat; > Melothria crassifolia Small — S; > Melothria microcarpa Shuttlew. — S; > Melothria nashii Small — S; > Melothria pendula L. var. aspera Cogn. — NS, S; > Melothria pendula L. var. crassifolia (Small) Cogn. — NS; > Melothria pendula L. var. pendula — NS, S. Basionym: Melothria pendula L. 1753
Links to other floras: = Melothria pendula - FNA6
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FAC
- Great Plains: FAC
- Midwest: FAC
Heliophily ⓘ: 6
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© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
© Carol Ann McCormick | Original Image ⭷
© Alan M. Cressler | Original Image ⭷
© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
© J.W. Hardin | Original Image ⭷
© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷Feedback
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Vining annual of bottomland forests, marshes, and moist roadsides and other disturbed areas.
Stems: Stems slender, smooth, with coiled tendrils from leaf axils grabbing other vegetation.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, petiolate, round in outline but palmately 3- to 5-lobed, to 3 in. long and wide, rough-hairy.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Male and female flowers separate, the female flowers solitary in leaf axils and male flowers smaller and in few-flowered, long-stalked clusters. Flowers yellow, about 1/3 in. wide, with 5 shallowly notched corolla lobes.
Fruits: Fruit a speckled green or black, round to elliptic pod resembling a tiny watermelon.
Comments:
Height: to 15 ft. long
plant sale text:
bloom table text:
description: Vining annual of bottomland forests, marshes, and moist roadsides and other disturbed areas.
stems: Stems slender, smooth, with coiled tendrils from leaf axils grabbing other vegetation.
leaves: Leaves alternate, petiolate, round in outline but palmately 3- to 5-lobed, to 3 in. long and wide, rough-hairy.
inflorescence:
flowers: Male and female flowers separate, the female flowers solitary in leaf axils and male flowers smaller and in few-flowered, long-stalked clusters. Flowers yellow, about 1/3 in. wide, with 5 shallowly notched corolla lobes.
fruits: Fruit a speckled green or black, round to elliptic pod resembling a tiny watermelon.
comments:
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: southeastern United States
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