Dear Jim, I've grown the wild version of the Mexican Melothria for a number of years. It grows wild in Texas, and I thought the miniature, cucumber-like vines were charming, short lived climbers, clambering on their own here and there in the garden. The fruits look like tiny miniature green-striped watermelons, and the cucumber fragrance is very distinct. They can become somewhat pest-y when they become entangled in your garden perennials. Several seed companies have been offering the improved version in the last two or three years. Come to think of it, they are not really so short-lived, just cut down by frosts in the fall. No telling how long they could live in a warmer environment. No pests, and no insects seem to be eating their leaves. -Cynthia Mueller >>> "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com> 2/10/2009 9:36 AM >>> I don't have any experience of the plant to share, but I've also noticed this item in seed catalogs this year. Territorial Seed Company offers it as Mexican Sour Gherkin. Those Mexican Sour Gherkins look interesting, but what really got my attention is one of its apparent relatives: the Jung Seed Co if offering something they call Deco-Mix Ornamental Cucumber (not for food purposes they say). The photo in the catalog shows round and oval fruits in several sizes. Some are smooth, some are covered with spines, some green, some striped in yellow orange and white. No botanical name is given. Does anyone grow the squirting cucumber, Ecballium elaterium? And gardening books from the early twentieth century sometimes illustrate two other forgotten curcurbits: Echinocystis lobata and Sicyos angulatus. From the photo I know best, Echinocystis seems to have real ornamental value (although it is apparently weedy in some areas). Now I wonder, are those Deco-mix Ornamental Cucumbers Echinocystis? Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where things are starting to pop. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ ( http://www.jimmckenney.com/ ) BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ ( http://www.pvcnargs.org/ ) Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ ( http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ ) _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/