In the wild, you can find a plant that looks like a seed cucumber. Where did such an unusual name come from and is it possible to eat this plant for food?

Mad Cucumber - Description

Crazy cucumber (or eckallium) is a herbaceous plant. It can be either annual or perennial. This is the only representative of a kind. It grows on sea coasts, slopes with clay soil. It can also be found in littered areas or on roadsides. The most common plant in Asia Minor, the Mediterranean, Crimea, the southern part of European Russia.

Also, this name is used in relation to several other plants, because they resemble mad cucumber by some properties. Among them are echinocystis and cyclanter.

What is the secret of such an unusual name? The eccallium plant looks very much like a cucumber due to hairy stems and twigs, large, soft, rough leaves and small yellow flowers.

Interesting fact: if the mad cucumber does not find support, it spreads in a dense layer on the surface of the earth. Thus, it can cover about 7 m2. And the seeds are fired at a distance of 6 m.

They remind us of the usual vegetables and fruits of a mad cucumber. They have a greenish tint, oblong ovoid shape. Also, the fruits are prickly to the touch, and in length reach 5 cm on average.

But the most interesting is the inside of the fruit.During ripening, the flesh of a mad cucumber becomes as soft and liquid as possible. Black seeds float in it. If at least a little disturb this fruit, it explodes under high pressure - the inner contents of the cucumber flies out.

Given that the plant curls densely on the surface of the soil, the explosion of one fruit affects others. During this period, it is better not to approach a large cluster of cucumbers, since in the event of a collision the impact force of the outgoing stalk is quite high.

Plant properties

Eccallium is not used for food, as this plant is considered poisonous. In particular, it contains many different alkaloids. These are substances that may contain nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, sulfur, chlorine, and other components.

It is worth noting that many alkaloids can have a therapeutic effect, but subject to the use of small doses. These properties of mad cucumber are used in medicine, mainly in folk. Due to the toxicity of the plant, it should be taken solely on the recommendation and under the supervision of a doctor.

Echinocystis is used only as an ornamental plant. And edible cyclantra in a number of countries is eaten, but should not be confused with a real mad cucumber.