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Cucurbitaceae family

Gooseberry Gourd Cucumis myriocarpus

Gooseberry Gourd is an introduced annual vine, found in the lower 48 states.

More about this plant

Cucumis myriocarpus, the gooseberry cucumber, gooseberry gourd, paddy melon, mallee pear or prickly paddy melon, is a prostrate or climbing annual herb native to tropical and southern Africa. It has small, round, yellow-green or green-striped fruit with soft spines, small yellow flowers and deeply lobed, light green leaves. The melon occurs in disturbed soil and cleared or bare areas, and thrives on summer moisture. Wikipedia →

⚠ Invasive here — plant a native instead USDA + GBIF

Gooseberry Gourd is flagged invasive in the U.S. These natives fill a similar niche — same growth habit, bloom season, height, and region — so you keep the look and feed local wildlife instead of spreading a problem.

Shasta Red Fir (var. shastensis)
Native
Shasta Red Fir (var. shastensis)
Abies magnifica var. shastensis
●●●●○
Halfmoon Milkvetch
Native
Halfmoon Milkvetch
Astragalus wootonii
●●●●○
Utah Swallow-wort
Native ★
Utah Swallow-wort
Cynanchum utahense
●●●●○
Catclaw Acacia
Native
Catclaw Acacia
Senegalia greggii
●●●●○
Matched on growth habit · bloom months · mature height · shared U.S. range (USDA + GBIF) — a starting point, not a prescription.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 11 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Foliage
Lifespan
Annual
Foliage
Broadleaf
In the garden
Vine / climber layer — Sits in the vine of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~20 caterpillar species

Cucumis supports ~20 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus.

Recorded feeding on Cucumis in North America, including:

Agrotis ipsilon · Dark Sword-Grass Agrotis vetusta · Old Man Dart Anisota stigma · Spiny Oakworm Moth Athetis miranda · owlet moth Autographa californica · Alfalfa Looper Moth Colias eurytheme · Orange Sulphur
+ 8 more species →
Diaphania hyalinata · Melonworm Moth Diaphania indica-complex · snout moth Diaphania nitidalis · Pickleworm Moth Euxoa tessellata · Tessellate Dart Feltia jaculifera · Dingy Cutworm Moth Feltia subgothica · owlet moth Helicoverpa zea · Corn Earworm Hyles lineata · White-Lined Sphinx
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Wildlife & visitors 2 birds

Open records of who else uses Gooseberry Gourd — a generalist food-web signal, kept separate from the keystone Ecological Value.

Recorded eaten by 2 birds species (fruit, seed, browse):

Platycercus elegans · Crimson Rosella Cacatua leadbeateri · Pink Cockatoo
Interaction records (observations, not exhaustive) from GloBI → (CC0). Counts are distinct species; names are the most-recorded. Common names from Wikidata (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (16) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — US-RIIS v2.0 (USGS)
[07] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[08] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Functional traits — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)
[11] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[12] Wildlife & visitors — GloBI — Global Biotic Interactions (CC0)
[14] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[15] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
[16] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county
Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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