Native:
Africa
Northern Africa: Algeria; Libya; Morocco; Tunisia
Asia-Temperate
Caucasus: Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Russian Federation-Ciscaucasia - Ciscaucasia
Western Asia: Cyprus; Iran; Israel; Jordan; Lebanon; Syria; Turkey
Europe
Eastern Europe: Moldova; Ukraine
Southeastern Europe: Albania; Bulgaria; Former Yugoslavia; Greece; Italy; Romania
Southwestern Europe: France; Portugal; Spain
Ecballium elaterium is a cucurbitaceous annual that is no more than 1 foot tall and moderately spreading. It produces copious amounts of fertile pepos that explosivley emit a stream of seed and muscalige. This muscalige acts as a dispersal agent by allowing seeds to stick to surfaces (like fur, fingers, clothing) of the animals that have triggered the seeds release. Here at the Arboretum we have had to eliminate a planting of E. elaterium due to its prolific production of seedlings that constantly had to be weeded out of the low-water-use bed they were planted in.
The plant's seeds are sold as a novelty