Ecballium elaterium fresh seeds, Exploding Cucumber, Squirting cucumber, Echinocystis, Liana seeds, Organic seeds, Non GMO (lat. Ecballium elaterium)
Rabid cucumber, or echinocystis– is an annual plant from the pumpkin family. The vine can reach a length of 1.5 to 6 meters, so when planting, you should take care of the trellis for the plant. Although such a cucumber is completely devoid of antennae, it quickly weaves everything that comes its way.
The stem is prostrate or ascending, without antennae, 50-150 cm long, with short, more or less rough branches. The root is thickened, taproot, slightly branched, whitish, fleshy.
The leaves are alternate, heart-shaped-ovate or slightly lobed, serrated, 5-10 (up to 20) cm long, 4-8 (up to 15) cm wide, gray-felt, wrinkled, rigidly rough, with thickened, prominent veins from below. The petioles of the leaves are fleshy, knobby, bristly-rough, 5-15 cm long.
The flowers are unisexual, monoecious, very rarely dioecious. Blooms in July - September.
Fruits are bluish-green or green, juicy, oblong or oblong-ovate, 4-6 cm long, 1.5—2.5 wide, prickly-bristly, blunt at both ends, multi-seeded. The seeds are dark brown elongated, small, compressed, smooth, narrowly bordered, about 1 cm long. When the seeds ripen, the surrounding tissue turns into a mucous mass. At the same time, a large pressure is formed in the fruit, as a result of which the fruit is separated from the peduncle, and the seeds, together with the mucus, are forcefully thrown out through the hole formed. The process of ejecting seeds uses jet propulsion. A rabid cucumber "shoots" its seeds at a distance of more than 6 m. The fruits ripen in August - September.