''Marah'' (the manroots, wild cucumbers, or cucumber gourds) are flowering plants in the gourd

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

(

Cucurbitaceae The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are: *'' Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds *'' La ...

), native to western North America. The genus (which Kellogg noted was characterized by extreme bitterness) was named for Marah in , which was said to be named for the bitter water there. Except for the isolated range of ''

Marah gilensis ''Marah gilensis'', commonly known as the Gila manroot, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, endemic to Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. Description ''Marah gilensis'' is a perennial vine growing from a large, ...

'' (Gila manroot) in west-central

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

and island populations (''M. macrocarpus'' var. ''major''), all manroot species inhabit overlapping ranges distributed from Southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

to Northern

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. Although '' Marah oreganus'' (coastal manroot) extends inland into

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

, all other manroot species except ''M. gilensis'' are confined to areas within 300 km of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

coast.

Description

The manroots are

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

s, growing from a large

tuberous root Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...

. Most have stout, scabrous or hairy stems, with coiling tendrils that enable them to climb up other plants; they can also grow rapidly across level ground. Their leaves tend to have multiple lobes, up to 7 in some species. The fruits are striking and easily recognized. They are large, and spherical, oval or cylindrical. At a minimum they are in diameter, but can be up to long, and in many species they are covered in long spines. Both leaf and fruit shape vary widely between individual plants and leaves can be particularly variable even on the same vine. The anthropomorphic common names "manroot" and "old man in the ground" derive from the swollen lobes and arm-like extensions of the unearthed tuber. On old plants, the tuber can be several meters long and weigh in excess of .

Taxonomy and systematics

''Marah'' species

hybridize Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to: * Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid * Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals * ...

freely where ranges overlap and this, in addition to intra-species leaf and fruit variability, makes definite identification of specimens a particular challenge. A proper genetic analysis of ''Marah'' phylogeny has not yet been undertaken. The standard taxonomy has been based on morphological comparisons and geographic considerations. Some authors include the manroots in genus '' Echinocystis''. Considered as a separate genus, however, it includes six or seven species, some of them with well-defined varieties within them: *''

Marah fabacea ''Marah fabacea'' (sometimes spelled ''Marah fabaceus''), the California manroot or bigroot, is the most common of the Marah (plant), manroot species native to California. Its range throughout the state subsumes nearly the entire ranges of all th ...

'' – California manroot **''Marah fabacea'' var. ''agrestis'' **''Marah fabacea'' var. ''fabacea'' *''

'' – Gila manroot *'' Marah guadalupensis'' – often included in ''M. macrocarpus'' var. ''major'' *'' Marah horridus'' – Sierra manroot *'' Marah macrocarpa'' – Cucamonga manroot **''Marah macrocarpa'' var. ''macrocarpa'' **''Marah macrocarpa'' var. ''major'' **''Marah macrocarpa'' var. ''micrantha'' *'' Marah oreganus'' – coastal manroot *'' Marah watsonii'' – Taw manroot

Use by humans

''Marah oreganus'' was used medicinally by Native Americans. The Chinook made a poultice from the gourd. The

Squaxin The Squaxin Island Tribe are the descendants of several Lushootseed clans organized under the Squaxin Island Indian Reservation, a Native American tribal government in western Washington state. Historically, the ancestors of the Squaxin Island T ...

mashed the upper stalk in water to dip aching hands. The Chehalis burned the root and mixed the resulting powder with

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the N ...

grease to apply to scrofula sores. The

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the C ...

made a decoction to treat

venereal disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and ora ...

, kidney trouble and scrofula sores. The dried spiky fruit can be soaked in water so that the spikes can be easily removed. They are difficult to remove otherwise. The hard fruit becomes soft in water and once the spikes are gone, the fruit makes a very efficient loofa. The tubers of ''M. fabaceus'' and ''M. macrocarpus'' contain

saponin Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...

s which can act as a natural soap. Tubers of ''M. fabaceus'' were crushed and thrown into bodies of water by the

Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Unit ...

to immobilize fish. The tubers contain megharrhin, a

-like glucoside. Saponins lower the surface tension of water allowing the formation of bubbles. It is likely that the substance enters the fish's circulation through the gill arches where only a single-cell epithelium separates the water from the animal's red blood cells. The affected fish float to the surface. Like many medicinal plants, at least some ''Marah'' species are toxic if ingested and deaths have been reported from ingesting them. Seeds of ''Marah fabaceus'' have been reported as being

hallucinogenic Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorize ...

References

* Gunther, Erna (1973): ''Ethnobotany of Western Washington'' (Revised ed.). University of Washington Press. * Pojar, Jim & McKinnon, Andy (1994): ''Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast''. Lone Pine Publishing.

External links

Jepson manual treatment of genus ''Marah''Website About 5 California-native Marah Species
{{Taxonbar, from=Q930104 Cucurbitaceae genera Cucurbitoideae Flora of California Plants used in traditional Native American medicine