Burr Cucumber (Sicyos angulata) is an invasive plant that loves summer sun and humidity, two things abundantly available on the Dordogne river banks. This plant from North America can be found in the West of Aquitaine since about fifty years and, following the rivers, it makes progress in the East. Slowly, in 2010 it had not yet arrived in Bergerac. But now there are also Burr Cucumbers in Coux et Bigaroque and maybe also further away.
It is a kind of monster, its creepers can reach more than 8 meters away. It covers the river banks and their vegetation, and it climbs...
... and climbs. In fact, it thrives like a cucumber or a pumpkin on the compost heap. As it should be for a member of the Cucurbitaceae family.
Until now there has not been a little morning frost this year, so Burr Cucumber goes on flowering.
It is not easy to find beauty in it, it is a messy plant, with its unkempt creepers and disheveled leaves that grow in any direction. But this is also a question of taste, is n't it?
The star-like fruits are festive, anyhow, like too-early christmas tree baubles.
In spite of its name the fruits do not look at all like cucumbers, nor are they edible. By contrast the leaves resemble much the leaves of a kitchen cucumber plant.