Marah oregana

Coast man-root

Family: Cucurbitaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Coast man-root is a California native perennial found in northwestern California and San Francisco Bay Area bioregions in shrubby or open areas and forest edges at elevations below 1,800 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white flowers in deeply cup-shaped corollas more than 8 millimeters wide. Growing with climbing or sprawling stems, it develops a robust and extensive herb system with non-glaucous herbage. Its leaves are broadly distributed along the vine-like stems, supporting the plant's expansive growth habit. The fruit is a nearly spherical structure 4 to 8 centimeters long, typically marked with dark green stripes and covered in dense, stiff prickles.

Habitat: shrubby or open areas, forest edges

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1800 m

Bioregions: NW, SnFrB

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.