Hedgehog Bladders Take Over The Hedge
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| Festive wild cucumbers make great decorations! |
I love receiving nature related questions from friends and
family. There was that one time my mechanical engineer sister wrote to me in
panic about dying pine trees along the interstate (it was fall and they were tamaracks
turning yellow), and recently I got a “what the heck is this?” message from my
geologist brother. He sent me a photo of wild cucumber vines growing on his
woodpile.
These leafy vines and spiky fruit are an interesting spectacle. Wild cucumbers catch your eye in edges and disturbed places, growing up and over trees and shrubs, grabbing on with their curling tendrils. Although they have very fragrant and numerous whitish yellow flowers in June—it is the spiky pods that catch attention.
These leafy vines and spiky fruit are an interesting spectacle. Wild cucumbers catch your eye in edges and disturbed places, growing up and over trees and shrubs, grabbing on with their curling tendrils. Although they have very fragrant and numerous whitish yellow flowers in June—it is the spiky pods that catch attention.
Wild cucumber seed pods look like very spiky cucumbers. The
scientific name for wild cucumber, Echinocystis
lobata means hedgehog bladder, which accurately describes this spiky fruit.
Cousins to our domestic and delicious cucumber, wild cucumbers are not edible.
The seed pods develop in late August and September in Vermont, and then the
vessel dries and ejects four large, flat brownish, blackish seeds from the
bottom of the pod.
A young child taught me about wild cucumbers twenty years
ago while I led a field trip adventure. Children are blessed with the ability of
wonderful discovery. A spiky fruit growing in the hedge is a teachable moment,
for the student and the teacher. We popped one open that day and admired the
large flat seeds growing inside.
Recently I walked by a beautiful huge vine with my dad and
he reminisced about a childhood spent chucking wild cucumbers at his brothers.
When they are fresh and green, the cucumber spikes are soft, but they grow
spikier as the seed pod dries. Now is a good time to pick these spiky fruits
because they are dried and have expelled their seeds. You can use them as
projectiles during your next family get together, or you can put them on your
Christmas tree as we did.
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