When I first saw this vine from last week’s puzzler it was covering everything in sight and I thought surely it must be an invasive plant. I took some photos of it and then forgot about it. I saw it again last summer, growing on a property owned by Conserving Carolina. It was down near one of the ponds, covering pretty much everything on one side of the pond. The bees were wild for the small, white, star-shaped flowers and I spent some time watching them. I was surprised to discover that this very, fast-moving, prolific vine is actually Bur Cucumber, Sicyos angulatus ,a plant I initially identified as Wild Cucumber.
Bur Cucumber is native to North America and can easily grow 25 feet in a season. It is a great example of a native vine that can become invasive, though it is not usually listed as such. When people think of invasive plants they often assume anything non-native is invasive, and thus, anything native is NOT invasive, but these statements are not true. That is, just because a plant is native doesn’t mean it always behaves. Native plants can be invasive, such as in this case, of the bur cucumber. And then on the other hand, just because a plant is non-native doesn’t mean it is always invasive. There are many, many examples of perfectly behaved plants that don’t spread madly to the surrounding yards and woods.
There is another very similar plant, often found in the same areas, called Wild Cucumber, Echinocystis lobata. At first glance, these plants are easy to mix-up. They both have cucumber-like leaves, with 3-5 lobes on them, and tendrils that curl onto everything in their path, and star-shaped flowers. Unfortunately I have no photos of Wild Cucumber to compare, but the selling point for me on these photos from puzzler 212 being Bur Cucumber and not Wild Cucumber are that 1. The stems are very hairy. 2. The leaves are not as deeply lobed as those on Wild Cucumber and 3, the fruits are much different. The fruit of Bur Cucumber, as seen below is VERY spiky, and there are a bunch of them growing together. This is not something you’d want to sit on for sure. Yikes! The fruit of Wild Cucumber is one small, spiky, oblong fruit.
Have you seen this growing in a field near you? Some people might intentionally plant this over their arbor or on a trellis for some fast-moving leaves that will offer shade in no time. Plant references talk about this vine using the words aggressive, fast-moving and vigorous, but not usually invasive. If you saw it in the field as I did last year, you might be tempted to label it invasive.
Okay, let’s do another puzzler. Are you ready? This next puzzler is shrub with bright, red berries. See if you recognize it.