PUBLISHED IN: Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 5(6): 60. 1853.

TYPE: Plantae Wrightianae 2: 60. United States of America, New Mexico, “In valleys from Eagle Spring to Limpio,” Texas, June 1851, Charles Wright 1382, (NY 172318).

ETYMOLOGY: wavy.

SYNONYMY: Cucurbitopsis undulata (Gray) Crovetto, det. Martinez Crovetto, 1954; Genus ined.??

INFRASPECIFIC TAXA:

VERNACULAR NAME: melón loco

OTHER VERNACULAR NAMES:

CULTIVARS:

DESCRIPTION: Vine rough, prostrate, having a disagreeable odor; roots thick perennial; leaves round-reniform, entire or lobed; flowers large yellow, monoecious, the staminate racemose or corymbose, the pistillate solitary in the upper axils; calyx tube subcylindric; anthers distinct, sessile, dorsally fixed; ovary 1-celled, with 3 placentae; seeds horizontal, numerous; fruit 7–10 cm in diameter, nearly spherical, ridged, with a tough or somewhat woody rind.

CHROMOSOME NUMBER: 2n = 28.

DISTRIBUTION: Southern Arizona to western Texas and northern Mexico (Sonoran Desert).

ECOLOGY: Dry sandy mesas.

EDIBLE USE: A minor oilseed. Fruit eaten by Pima Indians.

MEDICINAL USE:

OTHER USE:

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE:

CONSERVATION:

CULTIVATION PRACTICES:

SEEDS AVAILABLE FROM:

LITERATURE: Correll, D. S. & M. C. Johnston. 1970. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas. Texas Research Foundation, Renner.
     Delesolle, V. 1987. Patterns and gender allocation in a monoecious cucurbid, Apodanthera undulata, and their reproductive consequences. PhD Dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
     Shreve, F. & I. L. Wiggins. 1964. Vegetation and Flora of the Sonoran Desert. Stanford Univ. Press, Calif.

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