Indian Cucumber Root (TVA, White's Creek Small Wild Area, Plants)

Indian Cucumber Root

Medeola virginiana

Summary ⁵

Medeola virginiana or Indian Cucumber-root is a perennial plant in the genus Medeola.

Barcode data: medeola virginiana ⁶

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

Comments ⁷

The rhizome of Medeola virginiana has the taste and odor of cucumber and is edible. The whorled leaves look like those of the orchid Isotria verticillata. The Iroquois of eastern North America used M. virginiana as an anticonvulsive, pediatric aid (D. E. Moerman 1986).

Description ⁸

This perennial wildflower is 1-2½' tall, consisting of an erect unbranched stem and 1-2 whorls of leaves. Plants without flowers produce only a single whorl of leaves, while flowering plants produce 2 whorls of leaves. The central stem is medium green, terete, and woolly-pubescent to glabrous; it becomes more glabrous with age. In a flowering plant, the lower whorl of leaves occurs near the middle of the central stem; this whorl has 5-10 leaves that are 2½-5" long and ½-2" across. The upper whorl of leaves occurs underneath the inflorescence; this whorl has 3-5 leaves that are 2-4" long and ½-2" across. All of these leaves are elliptic to ovate in shape, smooth along their margins, and sessile. The upper leaf surface is medium green and glabrous, while the lower surface is pale green. Individual leaves have 3-5 parallel primary veins and a fine network of secondary veins. The inflorescence consists of a sessile umbel of 3-9 flowers on pedicels about 1" long. These flowers are held either a little above or below the leaves when they are in bloom. Individual flowers are about 2/3" (15 mm.) across, consisting of 6 yellowish green tepals, 6 stamens, a 3-celled ovary, and 3 reddish purple to brown stigmata. The tepals are lanceolate in shape and recurved. The stigmata are large in size and recurved, spanning the width of each flower. The pedicels are light green and glabrous. The blooming period occurs from late spring to early summer, lasting about 1 month. Afterwards, the pedicels become more erect, holding the developing berries above the upper whorl of leaves. At maturity, these berries are dark purple, globoid, and about 1/4" to 1/3" (6-8 mm.) across. Each berry contains several seeds. The root system consists of a thick rhizome with fibrous roots. Small colonies of plants can develop from the rhizomes.

Faunal associations ⁹

Very little is known about floral-faunal relationships for this species. Sometimes, such small rodents as the White-Footed Mouse and Woodland Deer Mouse eat the seeds and berries (Hamilton, 1941).

Sources and Credits

(c) zen Sutherland, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/54289096@N00/4740733678
(c) Elizabeth Sellers, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/esellers/18936734004/
(c) Biodiversity Heritage Library, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/6302288126/
(c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/natureserve/13406419444/
Adapted by Jonathan (JC) Carpenter from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medeola_virginiana
(c) Barcode of Life Data Systems, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/30697090
(c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/19821151
(c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29445403
(c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29445407

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