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Marah macrocarpa
Also called Chilicothe, Southern California Manroot, Large Fruited Manroot, Wild Cucumber
Cucamonga manroot is a sprawling, climbing perennial vine from a huge underground tuber, native to Southern California and Baja California. It is a tough, drought-adapted plant that needs seasonally moist soil and goes dormant in summer.
Marah macrocarpa is a species of plant in the genus Marah commonly referred to as chilicothe, wild cucumber, manroot or bigroot. It is a perennial herb with a large tuber native to Southern California and northern Baja California. It grows in a diverse number of habitats in coastal and inland regions. A member of the gourd family, it produces a large, green, prickly fruit. Indigenous peoples traditionally used it for treating hair loss and pain relief. All parts of the plant are toxic, as it contains cucurbitacins and ribosome-inactivating proteins.
Marah macrocarpa is native to Southern California in the United States and Baja California, Mexico. Its range extends from the Transverse Ranges and Channel Islands through the Peninsular Ranges, and the Sonoran Desert. M. macrocarpa is bounded to the north by the Santa Clara River, which also forms the southern boundary for Marah fabacea. It occurs throughout Baja California and its adjacent Pacific islands, including Cedros Island.
Ethnographic accounts report that the most common use of Marah macrocarpa was for treating hair loss and baldness on the head. It was reported that the Chumash, Kawaiisu, and Cahuilla peoples roasted the seeds and mashed them into an oily black salve that was applied to the head. Pharmacological research suggests that the Cucurbitacins found in Marah are structurally similar to the antiandrogen medication finasteride and may show similar biological activity, providing support to the traditional uses of the plants for treating hair loss.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Marah macrocarpa 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.
