HEARTWOOD CHAPTER

The Smell Melon (a.k.a. pomegranate melon; Queen Anne's pocket melon; Cucumis odoratissimus Moench)

I have encountered these in abundance at one of the parks I frequent and consulted the local experts at the Texas Agrilife Extension to find out what they are. I have been seeing them for the past few years and they look like miniature watermelons. They have taken over areas that have recently been excavated for a pond and an area that was disturbed in order to build a levee. I first thought they might be the dreaded Tropical Soda Apple because of the similar fruit http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SOVI2 but the plant didn't have large thorns like the Soda Apple.

The fruit seem to be the distinguishing feature of this plant. It is a summer annual form of the muskmelon and the fruit resembles miniature round watermelons. The immature fruit is green and mottled like a watermelon but becomes striped with yellow or orange when they are mature. When you cut them open the seed pattern looks exactly like a cucumber. They are easy to spot this time of year because of the foliage which dies back in the winter. The plant itself forms a dense low mat and seems to produce hundreds of fruit. The plant and flowers resemble that of melons or cucumbers.

The plant originated from Africa and is considered more or less edible but is grown as an ornamental or for the fragrance of the fruit (hence the name smell melon). It's habitat is agricultural fields, roadsides and disturbed sites. In my research the problem with this plant is that it can interbreed with other hybridized melon crops and will make the melons bitter. It will also compete with other crops because of the dense mat of vegetation that it forms.

Each plant can produce several hundred melons which have 200 seeds each. Animals will eat them and the seeds are still viable once excreted. The seeds in the melons are covered with a sticky, "mucilaginous" coating that sticks to animals, shoes and equipment which allows the seeds to be transported easily. I have read that when the substance is dried it is hard to remove even with a steam cleaner! The melons also float and can be carried great distances that way. This plant seems to be very efficient in reproducing itself.

Look at the photo. If you find these around or in your garden you may want to consider pulling them so they don't mingle with some of your other cucumbers or melons.

The Smell Melon (a.k.a. pomegranate melon; Queen Anne's pocket melon; Cucumis odoratissimus Moench)

Photos