Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(encumberer). A large plant family, covering the melon, pumpkin, squash, calabash (Jonah 4:6-10). A poisonous apple or cucumber (2 Kings 4:39-41).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
This was some gourd of rapid growth that afforded Jonah needed shelter (Jonah 4:6-10). The margin of the RV calls it the Palma Christi. Others identify it with the Lagenaria vulgaris, which is often seen in Palestine as affording shelter. It grows rapidly, but rapidly withers, as by the gnawing of its bark by a snail. Its fruit, emptied of seeds, is used for bottles.
Lagenaria Vulgaris
Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:
Transliteration:
paqqu`ah
Meaning:
from the same as 6497; the wild cucumber (from splitting open to shed its seeds)