Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Vine

General: Annual vine with slender, twinging, narrowly grooved or striate stems, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; slender tendrils.

Leaves: Blades broadly triangular to shallowly 3-lobed, thin, conic-hispid on both surfaces, margins entire to denticulate; petioles shorter than blades.

Flowers: In short racemes or panicles, very slender pedicels; corolla white, 2-3 mm wide, petals bifid at apex, with fine clavate marginal glands.

Fruits: Smooth, indehiscent, enclosed in enveloping bracts, whitish, 5 mm long, enclosing solitary seed.

Ecology: Found in canyons and along streams, often in partial shade; 3,500-5,500 ft (1067-1676 m); flowers August -September.

Distribution: se AZ, sw NM; south to n MEX.

Notes: Could be confused with Funastrum spp., due to the vine habit but milkweeds have milky sap. Could also be confused with other cucurbits but very distinct from most other plants due to the two bracts which which enclose a single-seeded fruit.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Sicyosperma comes from Greek sikyos for wild cucumber or gourd and sperma for seed, while gracile means slender, graceful.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015