This perennial herb species grows in gravel within wadi and hillside habitats (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Fawzi and Ksiksi 2012, Mahmoud et al. 2018). At their longest, its stems can trail up to 200 cm in length, before dying back in the summer months (Jongbloed et al. 2003). It has oval/round leaves with wavy edges, yellow flowers between February and July and green-yellow fruit with soft spines (Jongbloed et al. 2003). The seeds from this plant may be spread by herbivorous animals, such as donkeys (Feulner 2011, 2016). Cucumis prophetarum is a crop wild relative of the cucumber, Cucumis sativus (Kameswara Rao 2013).