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Marah
Also called Man Roots, Wild Cucumbers
Marah, the manroots or wild cucumbers, is a genus of perennial vines in the gourd family from western North America, grown from a large tuberous root. Most are wild climbers rather than garden plants, and the key to growing them is a sunny spot with a large root zone and room to sprawl.
Marah (the manroots, wild cucumbers, or cucumber gourds) are flowering plants in the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to western North America. The genus (which Kellogg noted was characterized by extreme bitterness) was named for Marah in the Book of Exodus, which was said to be named for the bitter water there.
Except for the isolated range of Marah gilensis (Gila manroot) in west-central Arizona and island populations (M. macrocarpus var. major), all manroot species inhabit overlapping ranges distributed from Southern Canada to Northern Mexico. Although Marah oregana (coastal manroot) extends inland into Idaho, all other manroot species except M. gilensis are confined to areas within 300 km of the Pacific Ocean coast.
Marah oregana are used medicinally by Native Americans. The Chinook make a poultice from the gourd. The Squaxin mash the upper stalk in water to dip aching hands. The Chehalis burn the root and mixed the resulting powder with bear grease to apply to scrofula sores. The Coast Salish make a decoction to treat venereal disease, kidney trouble and scrofula sores.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Marah (plant) 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.
