Sicyos angulatus

New Cucurbit- Sicyos angulatus ATJAN2015/05 : 5 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (6)

Yes it appears that it is not known in India.
Some net sources indicate it as a weed (problematic in some areas).
http://www.hear.org/gcw/species/sicyos_angulatus/
May have reached in your area with introduced temperate plants.
It may become a case of invasion by another American weed. Many have already invaded India and well established now.
Need reporting and later monitoring of populations in my opinion.

Congratulation … for reporting its occurrence in India, first time. I saw the paper in Current Science today.
Please send a pdf or link which can be added to the page of Sicyos angulatus in efloraofindia.
And please keep a watch over this plant, it is invader in the country.

I had seen this plant in 2011 for the first time, but did not take it seriously. I thought it a common cucurbit based on its leaves. I was amazed in 2012 when saw its star-shaped bunches of fruits with spines. I posted it on FB page “Indian Flora” for ID in 2012, but was not identified. Unilocular ovary and one-seeded fruits were a lead for me to reach near Sechium and Sicyos. Then started searching the net and pinpointed Sicyos angulatus. By this time, I had come across a 65 page paper on Indian Cucurbitaceae by Renner and Pandey (2013). So, asked Prof. Renner to confirm my plant and for the reason of not including this in her paper. She suggested to write a small report on this plant.
Current Science dropped the abstract from my paper as a part of their guidelines for short communications.
Dr. Gurcharan Singh Sir helped me a lot by going through the manuscript and suggesting improvements.
Link to the paper:
http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/111/05/0789.pdf

…, Sicyos angulatus was also reported as a new addition to the Flora of India by me after posting it on efloraofindia in Jan 2015.