WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Touch the large, scratchy leaves of this robust vine, sprawling to 10 or more feet diameter, and you’ll know how it got its common and scientific names. In Latin, foetidissima means ill smelling. Large, yellow flowers grow in the leaf axils, and the tennis ball-sized gourds are poisonous when green.

FLOWERS: June–August. Bell-shaped with 5, rounded to pointed, yellow petals, 3 1/2-5 inches long (9-12 cm), open morning, fade by afternoon; male and female flowers are separate on same plant. The fruit is round, green, mottled with white stripes, 2 3/4-4 inches diameter (7-8 cm), and contains numerous seeds.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades triangular, 6–12-inches long, gray-green, margin finely-toothed, surfaces rough-hairy, foul-smelling.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, shale soils, roadsides, disturbed areas; shortgrass prairie, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,800-7,800 feet.

RANGE: TX to CA, north to WY, IL.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Fingerleaf Gourd, C. digitata, reported from southwest NM, has leaves with five, slender, finger-like lobes.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide (not reported in McKinley, Taos counties).