Manroot

For the morning glories called "manroot", see Wild Potato Vine and Ipomoea leptophylla.

Manroots, Cucumber Gourd
Coastal Manroot Marah oreganus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Cucurbitales
Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Subfamily:	Cucurbitoideae
Tribe:	Sicyeae
Subtribe:	Cyclantherinae
Genus:	Marah Kellogg
Species
Marah fabaceus Marah gilensis Marah guadalupensis Marah horridus Marah macrocarpus Marah oreganus Marah watsonii
Synonyms
Megarrhiza Torr. & A.Gray

The manroots, wild cucumbers, or cucumber gourd (genus Marah) are flowering plants in the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to western North America. They are also commonly called Old man in the ground. The genus name comes from Hebrew מָרָ֔א^{[verification needed]} (mara, "bitter" - e.g. Ruth 1:20), and was given because all parts of these plants tend to have a bitter taste.

Except for the isolated range of the Gila Manroot (M. gilensis) in west-central Arizona and island populations (M. macrocarpus var. major), all manroot species inhabit overlapping ranges distributed from Southern Canada to Northern Mexico. Although Coastal Manroot (M. oreganus) extends inland into Idaho, all other manroot species except M. gilensis are confined to areas within 300 km of the Pacific Ocean coast.

Description

The manroots are perennial plants, growing from a large tuberous root. 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 recognised. They are large, and spherical, oval or cylindrical. At a minimum they are 3 cm in diameter, but can be up to 20 cm 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" 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 100 kg.^{[citation needed]}

Taxonomy and systematics

Coastal Manroot (Marah oreganus) fruit

Cucamonga Manroot (Marah macrocarpus) root

Staminate flowers of Cucamonga Manroot (Marah macrocarpus)

Marah species hybridize 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:

• California Manroot, Marah fabaceus
  • Marah fabaceus var. agrestis
  • Marah fabaceus var. fabaceus
• Gila Manroot, Marah gilensis
• Marah guadalupensis - often included in M. macrocarpus var. major^{[citation needed]}
• Sierra Manroot, Marah horridus
• Cucamonga Manroot, Marah macrocarpus
  • Marah macrocarpus var. macrocarpus
  • Marah macrocarpus var. major
  • Marah macrocarpus var. micranthus
• Coastal Manroot, Marah oreganus
• Taw Manroot, Marah watsonii

Use by humans

Marah oreganus was used by Native Americans for various problems. The Chinook made a poultice from the gourd. The Squaxin mashed the upper stalk in water to dip aching hands. The Chehalis burned the root and mixed the resulting powder with bear grease to apply to scrofula sores. The Coast Salish made a decoction to treat venereal disease, kidney trouble and scrofula sores.^{[citation needed]}

The dried spikey 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.^{[1][unreliable source?]} The tubers of M. fabaceus and M. macrocarpus contain saponins which can act as a natural soap.^{[citation needed]}

Tubers of marah fabaceus were crushed and thrown into bodies of water by the Kumeyaay to immobilize fish. The tubers contain megharrhin, a saponin-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.^[2]

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.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Richard Thundering Wolf, Cherokee/Cheyenne elder, Vietnam Veteran and US military wilderness expertise teacher, tested by Adraghastar.
2. ^ Bjenning, Christina A.; Olson, Gary; Bjenning, Isabella; Conlin, Bob; and Fillius, Margaret (November 2005). "Native fishing practices - revisited" (PDF). Torreyana (San Diego, California: The Torrey Pines Docent Society): pp. 8–9. http://www.torreypine.org/Torreyana/0511.pdf. Retrieved 2008-04-21. 

• 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