squirting cucumber
Ecballium elaterium
The plant builds up internal turgor pressure up to nearly 3 times that of a car tire, launching its seeds at speeds of up to 10 meters per second.
- Scientific name
- Ecballium elaterium
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Cucurbitales › Cucurbitaceae › Ecballium
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Dry, sandy, disturbed soils, waste ground, roadsides, and coastal dunes.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis, absorbing water and minerals from soil)
- Range
- Mediterranean Basin, Southern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia
- Size
- Prostrate herbaceous vine growing 30-60 cm tall and spreading up to 1 meter wide.
- Lifespan
- 3 to 5 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss through intensive agriculture, urban development, and widespread herbicide application.
- Safe to approach?
- Defensive and highly toxic. Do not touch, harvest, or ingest any part of this plant. Keep a safe distance of at least 3 meters, as the ripe fruit can explosively spray bitter, irritating juice and seeds when brushed against. In case of skin or eye contact with the liquid, flush immediately with copious amounts of clean water. If ingested, seek emergency medical assistance immediately.
Ecballium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cucurbitaceae containing a single species, Ecballium elaterium , also called the squirting cucumber or exploding cucumber (but not to be confused with Cyclanthera explodens ). It gets its unusual name from the fact that, when ripe, it squirts a stream of mucilaginous liquid containing its seeds, which can be seen with the naked eye. It is thus considered to have rapid plant movement.
Photo: Daniel Cahen, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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