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Parasicyos dieterleae

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Two Guatemalan home gardeners holding Parasicyos maculatus, an indigenous Cucurbitaceae species whose root is used for rat poison.
Photo by: © Werner Orando, Universidad San Carlos, Guatemala. © Copyright International Plant Genetic Resources Institute 2004. All rights reserved.

Author:  Rafael Saade & Rafael Colin, 1991
Family:  CUCURBITACEAE
Origin:  Southern Mexico
Soil:  Mix 
Water:  Medium
Sun:  Medium
Thickness:  12 Centimetres
Height:  4 Meters
Flower:  Greenish-White
Propagate:  Seeds
Names:  -
Synonyms:  By mistake?: Parasicyos dieterlea

This monoecious member of the Cucurbitaceae was described by Rafael Lira Saade and Rafael Torres Colin in 1991. It is found in southern Mexico. In needs a well drained soil, some water and some sun. The caudex is large; twelve centimetres or more in diameter, and the vines will climb for four meters. The flowers are greenish white..

The genera name from Latin para; 'near' and Greek sicyos; 'cucumber' for the apparent affinity with the genus Sicyos, another member of the Cucurbitaceae family. The species name for Jennie van Ackeren Dieterle; 1909-1999, an US-American botanist at the University of Michigan Herbarium and Cucurbitaceae specialist.

Other genus: Parasicyos maculatus Dieterle 1975, from Guatemala. Used for rat poison.