Marah macrocarpus

Marah macrocarpus

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Cucurbitales
Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Genus:	Marah
Species:	M. macrocarpus
Binomial name
*Marah macrocarpus* Greene

Marah macrocarpus, the Cucamonga Manroot or Bigroot, is the common Marah of most of Southern California and Baja California.

Foliage

Cucamonga manroot, Marah macrocarpus, has the most pubescent shoots, stems, and leaves of all the manroot species native to California - this being consistent with its range having the most arid climate of all the species in California. Vines appear in late winter in response to increased rainfall, and can climb or scramble to a length of 6 metres (20 ft). Its leaves typically have five lobes with individual plants showing wide variation in leaf size and lobe length.

Vines emerge from a large, hard tuberous root which can reach several meters in length and weigh in excess of 100 kilograms (220 lb). Vines develop leaves and, particularly, flowers and fruit very quickly, often with the first nodes of the quick-growing vines containing male and female flower heads.

Flower

The flower can vary in colour from yellowish green to cream to white. Flowers appear soon after the vine emerges. The flowers are monoecious, that is, individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant. Male flowers appear in open clusters while females flowers, distinguished by a swollen base, usually appear individually. The plant is self-fertile, i.e. pollen from the male flowers can fertilise the female flowers on the same plant; pollination is by insects.

Fruit

Marah macrocarpa fruit

The fruit is longer than it is wide, 5–6 cm in diameter and 15–20 cm long, and covered in prickles of variable density, up to 1 cm long but without hooks. Unripe fruit are bright green, ripening to yellow. The fruit swells as it ripens until finally rupturing and releasing the large seeds. Fruit begin to form in late winter and ripen by early summer.

Seeds and germination

Seeds of Marah macrocarpus are large, hard, and very smooth. Southern California Manroot has larger, longer seeds than the other manroot species except for Marah horridus. Fruit usually hold four or more seeds. Seeds sprout in the cool wetness of late winter. Seeds have an intriguing germination process. The initial shoot emerges from the seed and grows downward into the earth. This shoot then splits, one part beginning to swell and form the tuber, while the second part grows back to the surface and becomes the vine.

Habitats

The Southern California Manroot, Marah macrocarpus, grows most vigorously by streams or in washes but is also successful in dry chaparral, at elevations up to 1,600 feet (490 m). Its range extends from Santa Barbara and the Transverse Ranges in the west and north to Baja California and the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert in the south and east. It will tolerate a variety of soil types and acidities, but it requires seasonally moist soil. Vines can grow in full-sun to partially shaded conditions. In the Mediterranean climate areas of California, manroot emerges soon after winter rains begin, grows until late spring, and dies back completely in the heat and dryness of summer.

General

All parts of the plant have a bitter taste (this is the meaning of the genus name Marah, which comes from Hebrew). Despite this, the leaves have been used as a vegetable. The large tuber of the manroot can be processed for a soap-like extract.

Three varieties are recognised:

Marah macrocarpus var. macrocarpus (found in much of Southern California)
Marah macrocarpus var. major (found on the Channel Islands)
Marah macrocarpus var. micranthus (found in northern portions of the range).

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marah macrocarpus.