Family:
Cucurbitaceae Juss.

Sicyos L.

This genus is accepted, and its native range is New World, E. & SE. Australia.

[FTEA]

Cucurbitaceae, C. Jeffrey. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1967

Morphology General Habit
Annual climbing or trailing herbs
Morphology Leaves
Leaves simple; blade palmately lobed
Morphology General Tendrils
Tendrils proximally 2–5-fid
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers small, greenish-white to greenish-yellow, monoecious Male flowers few to many in simple or branched racemes, often ± whorled or subcapitate; receptacle-tube shallowly campanulate; lobes small, dentiform; petals (3–4–)5, united at the very base, entire; stamens (2–)3(–5); filaments inserted at base of tube, united into a central column; anthers united into a head, less often practically free; thecae arcuate, flexuous or triplicate Female flowers solitary and long-pedicellate, or few to many subsessile and capitate at the apex of peduncles, smaller than (♂; perianth parts 5-merous, sometimes 3-merous; ovary ovoid and beaked or fusiform, 1-locular; ovule solitary, pendulous
sex Male
Male flowers few to many in simple or branched racemes, often ± whorled or subcapitate; receptacle-tube shallowly campanulate; lobes small, dentiform; petals (3–4–)5, united at the very base, entire; stamens (2–)3(–5); filaments inserted at base of tube, united into a central column; anthers united into a head, less often practically free; thecae arcuate, flexuous or triplicate
sex Female
Female flowers solitary and long-pedicellate, or few to many subsessile and capitate at the apex of peduncles, smaller than (♂; perianth parts 5-merous, sometimes 3-merous; ovary ovoid and beaked or fusiform, 1-locular; ovule solitary, pendulous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit rather small, ovoid and beaked or fusiform, terete, angled or compressed, aculeate, spiny or sometimes unarmed, dry and coriaceous or woody
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seed solitary, broadly ovate and compressed to fusiform, often rather obscurely bicarunculate at the apex; testa smooth.

Native to:

Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Arizona, Arkansas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Chile Central, Chile North, Colombia, Connecticut, Costa Rica, Desventurados Is., Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Kermadec Is., Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, Nicaragua, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Panamá, Paraguay, Pennsylvania, Peru, Queensland, Québec, Rhode I., South Carolina, South Dakota, Tasmania, Tennessee, Texas, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vermont, Victoria, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin

Extinct in:

Galápagos

Introduced into:

Angola, Ascension, Assam, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cayman Is., Central European Rus, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Cook Is., Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Himalaya, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hungary, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jawa, Kenya, Korea, Leeward Is., Madeira, Marianas, Mauritius, Nepal, New Caledonia, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Rodrigues, Romania, Réunion, Sicilia, Spain, St.Helena, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad-Tobago, Ukraine, Venezuelan Antilles, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Windward Is., Yugoslavia, Zaïre

Sicyos L. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status Has image?
Daly, D.C. [7051], Brazil K001137340 Yes

First published in Sp. Pl.: 1013 (1753)

Accepted by

  • Govaerts, R., Nic Lughadha, E., Black, N., Turner, R. & Paton, A. (2021). The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00997-6 Scientific Data 8: 215.

Literature

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • L., Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 443 (1754)
  • Sp. Pl.: 1013 (1753)

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0