Peach vine – Identification

Q: I saw an advertisement in the paper for a “Peach vine”. Is there really a peach that grows like a vine?

A: It took some digging (in the phone book, not in the dirt!) to find out about the plant you saw. The company that offers it by mail does not have a phone number listed under their name in Florida.

According to Opal Schallmo, urban horticulturist for the Pinellas County Extension service, the plant is a member of the cucumber family. Its scientific name is Cucumis melo.

True to its family, it is a vining plant, but Opal describes the fruit as “hardly ‘mouth-watering’, they’re more insipid than sweet, not at all like a peach”.