Three Melons.
Commonly called “coyote melon” and known to botanists as Cucurbita palmata, the coyote melon is a member of the Gourd Family (Cucurbitaceae) Coyote melon has one of the largest and latest blooming spring flowers in our desert. With a diameter of about four inches and a bold, orange-yellow color, the coyote melon flower is unlikely to be missed. In fact the only native plant that produces a larger, single-headed flower is the jimson weed.The pulp within the fruit is unpalatable, but was utilized by native people and during the depression, for soap. Clothing laundered with the soap reportedly helps to repel body lice.
The seeds are edible, unlike the pulp. The dried gourds have been used as rattles and containers. After the plant has gone to fruit, the stems dry up and wither away, later to re-sprout from the tuberous root once sufficient rains return.
I found these in Joshua Tree NP, California.
Three Melons.
Commonly called “coyote melon” and known to botanists as Cucurbita palmata, the coyote melon is a member of the Gourd Family (Cucurbitaceae) Coyote melon has one of the largest and latest blooming spring flowers in our desert. With a diameter of about four inches and a bold, orange-yellow color, the coyote melon flower is unlikely to be missed. In fact the only native plant that produces a larger, single-headed flower is the jimson weed.The pulp within the fruit is unpalatable, but was utilized by native people and during the depression, for soap. Clothing laundered with the soap reportedly helps to repel body lice.
The seeds are edible, unlike the pulp. The dried gourds have been used as rattles and containers. After the plant has gone to fruit, the stems dry up and wither away, later to re-sprout from the tuberous root once sufficient rains return.
I found these in Joshua Tree NP, California.