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Cucumis anguria
Also called Chicken Cucumber, Pumpkin, Cackrey, Maroon Cucumber, Bur Gherkin
A thin-stemmed annual vine that scrambles up to about 3 metres, grown for its small spiny fruits, which are pickled, cooked or eaten raw. Native to southern Africa and widely naturalised in the tropics and warm regions of the Americas.
Cucumis anguria, commonly known as maroon cucumber, West Indian gherkin, maxixe, burr gherkin, cackrey, and West Indian gourd, is a vine that is indigenous to Africa, but has become naturalized in the New World, and is cultivated in many places. It is similar and related to the common cucumber (C. sativus) and its cultivars are known as gherkins.
Although naturalized in many parts of the New World, Cucumis anguria is indigenous only to Africa, in the following countries: Angola; Botswana; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga); Eswatini; Tanzania; Zambia; and Zimbabwe.
Cucumis anguria is primarily grown (as a crop plant) for its edible fruit, which is used in pickling, as cooked vegetables, or eaten raw. The flavor is similar to that of the common cucumber. C. anguria fruits are popular in the northeast and north of Brazil, where they are an ingredient in the local version of cozido (meat-and-vegetable stew).
Cucumis · Aardvark Cucumber · Cucumis hystrix · Cantaloupe · Armenian cucumber · Melon · African horned cucumber · Gooseberry gourd · Cucumis · Cucumber · Melon
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cucumis anguria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
