Cucumis myriocarpus
Cucumis myriocarpus
Safety & Hazards
The fruit is reported to be used medicinally, however overdosing and/or the inclusion of the seeds in the pulp have been blamed for fatal cases of poisoning[ 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 suspected of causing photosensitization in sheep and blindness in cattle. However, reports on medicinal use and toxicity of this plant are suspected of wrong identification, and may refer to other species[ 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. ].
Botanical Description
Cucumis myriocarpus is an annual, climbing plant with stems up to 2 metres long. The stems scramble over the ground or climb into the surrounding vegetation where they support themselves by means of tendrils[ 308 Title Flora Zambesiaca Publication Author Website http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants. ]. The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine.