Common Name:

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[].
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[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	1.50 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

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[].

Edible Uses

The fruits of non-bitter forms are eaten raw or pickled[]. 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[].

Medicinal

The fruits of bitter forms are used as a (drastic) purgative[].

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[].

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[].

Propagation

Seed -

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Captcha: if i have 3 bananas, and i eat them all, how many bananas did i just eat?