Plants that are pokey, viney or spread quickly across the landscape sometimes seem alarming when you discover them in your backyard or woods or when they’re spotted along the highway. Wild cucumber has all these characteristics but is not as ominous as it seems.

Wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) is a vine native across the U.S. and found throughout Wisconsin. It has maple-like star-shaped leaves and has pale greenish-white flowers from July through September. A single plant is self-fertile but can also be pollinated by bees, wasps and flies. It produces a pod-like fruit with spikes resembling a cucumber which is unsafe to eat. Each pod produces four seeds that fall to the ground when the pod is ripe. The pods may persist into the winter and become thin brown shells.

Star-shaped leaves, pale flowers, and cucumber fruit of wild cucumber. Photo: Bugwood

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By Bernie Williams, DNR Invasive Plant Specialist. Bernadette.Williams@wisconsin.gov or 608-444-6948. 

Giant hogweed is a non-native, invasive plant that has gradually gained a foothold in the northeastern U.S. Once popular for its massive size and white umbrella-like flowers, it was introduced as an ornamental as early as 1917. Now known for its harmful blisters, it is recognized as a public health hazard and controlled wherever possible.

Characteristic purple blotches and white hairs on green stem of giant hogweed. Photo credit: Herkulesstaude_Fritz Geller-Grimm

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