This melon is beautiful, but don't eat it! It's poisonous!

When traveling through the mountains of Hainan, you may come across a melon that looks like a colorful bubble ball that children love to eat. It is slightly larger than a glass marble and has dense red and white stripes. It looks cute and interesting. This makes people curious, what kind of melon is this? Is this melon edible?

This is the double-wheel melon.

The double-wheeled melon belongs to the genus Cucurbitaceae of the Cucurbitaceae family. It is a member of the large Cucurbitaceae family and a true melon. It has a close or distant relationship with the common melons, gourds, cucumbers, watermelons, winter melons, etc. on the public table.

This strange fruit is rarely seen in big cities, but grows freely in many places in the mountains and wilds. Every autumn, the double-wheel melon begins to bear fruit . The unripe fruit is yellow-green with white vertical stripes, like a mini watermelon. When the fruit is ripe, the yellow-green color on the skin gradually turns bright red, which is very tempting.

This is the most special thing about the double-wheel melon. Each round fruit is brightly colored, like a warning color, which makes people involuntarily alert to it and dare not touch it easily. In fact, it is no problem to touch it a few times or play with it for a while, as long as you don't eat it, you will be fine.

Because the double-wheel melon is poisonous!

Unexpectedly, unlike other edible melons, which have a thick mesocarp, the two-wheel melon is not "solid" and will soon collapse if you squeeze it gently. When you peel off the melon's rind, you won't see any flesh, only three or two oval seeds wrapped in white pulp.

The fruit and root of the two-wheeled melon are highly poisonous . Eating the ripe fruit can cause headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, and other symptoms. Young children who eat more than 10 ripe fruits raw will suffer from headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, and cramps; pigs, cattle, sheep, and other livestock who eat a small amount of the fruit will suffer from breathing difficulties, convulsions, and even death in severe cases.

So, if you come across a double-wheeled melon outside, be sure to put away your curiosity and don’t eat it!!!

Possessing a deadly poison, the two-wheeled melon considers itself unpopular, so naturally no one takes care of it as it grows. Travelers in a hurry will not stop to water them, and farmers busy with farming have no time to weed and fertilize them. However, they are happy and full of vitality, with slender branches creeping and extending, adding a bit of playful color to the mountains and fields.

Note: The content is based on Hainan Daily, etc. The pictures are from the Internet and are only used as popular science materials. If there is any infringement, please contact us.