Whether you prefer to use the common name, Manroot or Bigroot, it sounds like a goofy name for a plant. Wondering how big the root is, I looked up photos on the internet. The roots are pretty big, and a couple of websites stated that they could weigh up to a couple hundred pounds.
Above ground, this plant is a magical vine that is covering the landscape — it seems to be growing at least a few inches every day. It is forming a dense blanket on the ground in some places. It also has branched tendrils that are grabbing ahold of anything they can curl around and hoist the plant up into trees and shrubs.
The male and female flowers are separate and on the same plant. Loosely clustered male flowers emerge on a narrow stalk from the leaf axil, and that is what you see filling the landscape with soft, white stars. The female flower is short-stalked, usually solitary, and also emerges from the same axil.
This native perennial is in the Cucurbitaceae family which is the gourd family of flowering plants. Manroot grows a spiky, fibrous fruit that is not edible. Small fruits are already beginning to form behind the female flower.
Manroot (Marah oreganus)
