General: Coyote Melon (Cucurbita palmata), also called Coyote Gourd, is an annual or weak perennial forb with large, palmately-dissected (shaped like a hand) leaves that grows as a spreading vine on the ground. The plant produces large, orange, funnel-shaped flowers uncharacteristic of the desert, and these are followed by 3- to 4-inch diameter green gourds with light stripes. In time, the gourds dry, blow away, and break open to release a payload of seeds. It is said that coyotes eat the gourds, but they taste pretty bad to this human. Another species, Cucurbita foetidissima, has entire leaves.

Coyote Melon is an uncommon component of vegetation communities in dry, well-drained gravelly areas on bajadas into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Around Las Vegas, look for Coyote Melon along roadsides at Red Rocks and Lake Mead.

Family: Gourds (Cucurbitaceae)