Pepquino? or ???

Discussion in 'Fruit and Veg Gardening' started by teamropingal, Oct 7, 2015.

  1. teamropingal

    teamropingal New Seed

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    Can someone tell me what this is? I've googled and found Pepquino, or Mexican sour gherkin.
    They are growing wild in my pasture. The biggest I've seen is about the size of a large jawbreaker. Some are green with stripes (like watermelons) and some have turned yellow (I'm guessing these are older?) What can I do with them? I want to try one, but would like to be 100% sure of what it is, LOL.
     

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  2. 2ofus

    2ofus Hardy Maple

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    When I lived in Texas I had something that looked similar to your photo and was told they were wild gourds. It would help to identify it if you would tell your location or area that you are in.
     
  3. S-H

    S-H Hardy Maple

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    looks like Citrullus Colocynthis to me - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrullus_colocynthis

    It is called Tumba over here in Pakistan. Once thought to be the "majical cure" for blood pressure, diabetes, and weight loss, (as well as assisting in otherwise very hard to cure skin ailments) - However recently it has been discovered that the only thing this fruit actually does very well, (if consumed for a long period of time), is causing irreversible sterility/infertility in human males... :rofl:

    If I am right and this indeed is Citrullus Colocynthis (Tumba), then it is a heat loving plant which enjoys full sunlight. And it behaves exactly like a melon vine would. Over here in my hot and humid environment Tumba stays green with lighter green stripes until it reaches the size of an orange, or a tennis ball. However in areas where water isn't plentiful and rainfall very low, they can become small too, turning yellow at about the size of a ping-pong ball. But since this is a semi desert plant, it will still thrive without much water or fertilizer (only the size of it's fruit can become small). I by the way didn't know what you meant by the size of a jawbreaker, so I had to first Google up what a jawbreaker was (as we don't have candy like that in my country). But from that size too, (after googling it), I think what you've got is Tumba alright!

    This damn thing used to grow wild near my home in the early 90s, and we kids often picked them up - Mainly to throw at each other! I remember once it's juice accidentally dripped on the palm of my hand, and it caused a very bad itch which didn't go away for almost 2 days (no matter how hard I tried to wash my hands). So I haven't touched it since - Actually I one day (after experiencing that itch) poured weed killer over it! So since that day it hasn't come back up... However I know of a place in my city where some quack salesmen still sell this (as well as it's seeds) as a universal cure for just about everything...

    Anyhow I am not joking about what I wrote above (regarding sterility/infertility). A scientist at the Karachi University's H.E.J Research Institute of Chemistry [ http://www.iccs.edu/ ] once published a thesis that proved Tumba fruit was causing this in males - That is how I remember...

    So if it is Tumba, then please avoid eating it, (unless you are very well experienced and know the exact history behind each medieval style of medicine made from wild plants) - In my opinion, it is just safer to not take any risks when it comes to unknown plants...


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    Last edited: Oct 7, 2015
  4. S-H

    S-H Hardy Maple

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    I just visited that area of Karachi again, where quack salesmen and other charlatans dwell (near the main scrap market). So this here is what mature Tumba look like.

    ClipBoard.jpg
     
  5. carolyn

    carolyn Strong Ash

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    Actually... S-H's picture looks exactly like a watermelon, but the foliage on yours does not. I edited this to correct the statement I made about the picture (which I deleted as it was totally erroneous), but I looked at s-h's not yours. The foliage on your picture looks like cantaloupe foliage.
    Did you cut any of them open? did you smell the foliage? Is there a curly q where the stem of each fruit is attached to the main vine? Can you see evidence of any animals eating them?
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2015

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