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Wild Balsam-Apple

Echinocystis lobata. Gourd Family.

Stem.--Climbing; nearly smoothed; with three-forked tendrils. Leaves.--Deeply and sharply five-lobed. Flowers.--Numerous; small; greenish-white; unisexual; the staminate ones growing in long racemes, the pistillate ones in small clusters or solitary. Fruit.--Fleshy; oval; green; about two inches long; clothed with weak prickles.

This is an ornamental climber which is found bearing its flowers and fruit at the same time. It grows in rich soil along rivers in parts of New England, Pennsylvania, and westward; and is often cultivated in gardens, making an effective arbor vine. The generic name is from two Greek words which signify hedgehog and bladder, in reference to the prickly fruit.