White Bur-cucumber (Sicyos albus)

Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: Federally Endangered
Family: Cucurbitaceae
State: HI
Nature Serve ID: 152715
Lifeform: Vine, Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection:

Description:

With hairy, black-spotted vines, this taxon's length can reach up to 20 meters long. Unlike common flowers, this species' flowers are unisexual, lacking both reproductive parts. On one plant, there are male flower clusters and female flower clusters, typical of various plants in the gourd family. Both their flowers and fruits are white in color.

Where is White Bur-cucumber (Sicyos albus) located in the wild?

Habitat:

It is difficult to observe this vine species in its native habitat, as it is a annual.

Distribution:

This Hawaiian endemic member of the gourd family creeps through the montane wet forests covering the slopes of the Big Island's tallest peaks.

States & Provinces:

White Bur-cucumber can be found in Hawaii

Which CPC Partners conserve White Bur-cucumber (Sicyos albus)?

Harold L. Lyon Arboretum

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/09/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Clarice Mendoza

09/15/2017

Believed to be a few dozen individuals left in the wild, its major threats include habitat degradation from feral pigs and competition for resources with introduced alien species.