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Useful Tropical Plants

Cucumis zeyheri

Sond.

Cucurbitaceae

+ Synonyms

Cucumis africanus zeyheri (Sond.) Burtt Davy

Cucumis prophetarum zeyheri (Sond.) C.Jeffrey

Common Name:

Cucumis zeyheri

General Information

Cucumis zeyheri is a herbaceous, perennial, occasionally climbing plant with stems up to 2 metres long growing from a woody, fibrous rootstock. The stems scramble over the ground and sometimes climb into the surrounding vegetation, where they attach themselves by means of tendrils[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References


Range

Southern Africa - southern Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana. Mozambique, Swaziland, S. Africa, Lesotho.

Habitat

Open woodland, in grassland and as a weed on cultivated ground at elevations from 300 - 1,650 metres[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

Properties

Edibility Rating *  *
Medicinal Rating *  *
Other Uses Rating *  *
HabitPerennial
Height1.50 m
Cultivation StatusWild

Cultivation Details



The plant hybridizes with a number of other species related to the gherkin, including Cucumis anguria (the gherkin), Cucumis africanus and Cucumis myriocarpus[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

Edible Uses

The fruits of non-bitter forms are eaten raw or pickled[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
]. The yellow fruit is an oblong, ellipsoid or obovoid-ellipsoid berry, 35 - 50mm long and 25 - 35mm wide, with slender spines up to 15mm long[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

Medicinal

The fruits of bitter forms are used as a (drastic) purgative[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

The fruits, particularly those of bitter forms, contain cucurbitacins B and D. These cucurbitacins, which are known from many species in the family Cucurbitaceae and also from various other plant species, have been shown to exhibit cytotoxicity (including antitumor activity), anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

Other Uses

Because it can hybridize with several other members of this genus, including the gherkin, and also because some forms of it have disease resistance, the plant is suitable for use in breeding programmes[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

Propagation

Seed -
Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2024-03-28. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Cucumis+zeyheri>

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