| Citrullus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Watermelon, Citrullus lanatus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Cucurbitales |
| Family: | Cucurbitaceae |
| Subfamily: | Cucurbitoideae |
| Tribe: | Benincaseae |
| Genus: | Citrullus Schrad. ex Eckl. & Zeyh. |
| Species | |
See text | |
| Synonyms | |
Citrullus is a genus of seven species of desert vines, among which Citrullus lanatus (the watermelon) is an important crop.
Molecular data, including sequences from the original collection of Momordica lanata made near Cape Town by C. P. Thunberg in 1773, show that what Thunberg collected is not what has been called Citrullus lanatus, the domesticated watermelon, since the 1930s. Although this error only occurred in 1930 (Bailey, Gentes Herbarum 2: 180–186), it has been perpetuated in hundreds of papers on the watermelon. In addition, there is an older name for the watermelon, Citrullus battichForssk. (Fl. Aegypt.-Arab.: 167. Jun 1775), which would normally have the precedence over Momordica lanataThunberg (Prodr. Pl. Cap.: 13. 1794). To solve this problem, it has been proposed to conserve the name Citrullus lanatus with a new type to preserve the current sense of the name [1]
Citrullus consists of the following species and subspecies: [1] [2]
The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera. Those most important to humans are the following:
Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly Cucurbita and Lagenaria. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the earliest domesticated types of plants, subspecies of the bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria, have been discovered in archaeological sites dating from as early as 13,000 BCE. Gourds have had numerous uses throughout history, including as tools, musical instruments, objects of art, film, and food.
A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopepōn), meaning "melon", itself a compound of μῆλον (mēlon), "apple", treefruit " and πέπων (pepōn), amongst others "a kind of gourd or melon". Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of cantaloupes.
Momordica charantia is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit. Its many varieties differ substantially in the shape and bitterness of the fruit.
Citrullus colocynthis, with many common names including Abu Jahl's melon,colocynth, bitter apple, bitter cucumber, egusi, vine of Sodom, or wild gourd, is a desert viny plant native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia, especially Turkey, and Nubia.
Egusi, also known as agusi, ohue, Ikpan, Ikon, agushi or mbíka) is the name for the protein-rich seeds of certain cucurbitaceous plants, which, after being dried and ground, are used as a major ingredient in West African cuisine.
Momordica is a genus of about 60 species of annual or perennial climbers herbaceous or rarely small shrubs belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae, natives of tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia and Australia. Most species produce floral oils and are visited by specialist pollinators in the apid tribe Ctenoplectrini. A molecular phylogeny that includes all species is available.
Cucumis myriocarpus, the gooseberry cucumber, gooseberry gourd, paddy melon, Mallee Pear or prickly paddy melon is a prostrate or climbing annual herb native to tropical and southern Africa. It has small, round, yellow-green or green-striped fruit with soft spines, small yellow flowers and deeply lobed, light green leaves. The melon occurs in disturbed soil and cleared or bare areas, and thrives on summer moisture.
The citron melon, also called Citrullus lanatus var. citroides and Citrullus amarus, fodder melon, preserving melon, red-seeded citron, jam melon, stock melon, Kalahari melon or tsamma melon, is a relative of the watermelon. It is from the family Cucurbitaceae which consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds. Native to arid landscapes of sub-Saharan Africa, it has been a wild source of nutrition and hydration for humans for an extraordinarily long time. Its fruit has a hard white flesh, rendering it less likely to be eaten raw in the modern era; more often it is pickled or used to make fruit preserves, and is used for cattle feed. It is especially useful for fruit preserves, because it has a high pectin content.
Citrullus ecirrhosus, commonly known as Namib tsamma, is a species of perennial desert vine in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, and a relative of the widely consumed watermelon. It can be found in both Namibia and the Cape Provinces of South Africa, in particular the Namib Desert. It is the sister species to the bitter melon, Citrullus amarus with which it shares hard, white and bitter flesh.
Melothria scabra, commonly known as the cucamelon, Mexican miniature watermelon, Mexican sour cucumber, Mexican sour gherkin, mouse melon, or pepquinos, is a species of flowering plant in the cucurbit family grown for its edible fruit. Its native range spans Mexico to Venezuela. Cucumis melo Agrestis and Cucumis callosus is cultivated as Chibber Fruit or Kachri in South Asia and can also grow as weed. Fruits are about the size of grapes and taste like cucumbers with a tinge of sourness. It may have been eaten by indigenous peoples before the European colonization of the Americas began.
Cucumeropsis mannii is a species of melon native to tropical Africa west of the East African Rift, where it is grown for food and as a source of oil.
Watermelon is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieties.
Cucumis melo, also known as melon, is a species of Cucumis that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. The fruit is a pepo. The flesh is either sweet or bland, with or without a musky aroma, and the rind can be smooth, ribbed, wrinkled, or netted. In North America, the sweet-flesh varieties are often collectively called muskmelon, including the musky netted-rind varieties and the inodorous smooth-rind varieties, and cantaloupe usually means the former type. However, muskmelon in a narrow sense only refers to the musky netted-rind type, while the true cantaloupe is the European type with ribbed and often warty rind that is seldom grown in North America.
Momordica foetida is a perennial climbing vine native of tropical Africa, closely related to the bitter melon and balsam apple. Its species name ("bad-smelling") refers to its unpleasant smell. It was previously named M. morkorra and M. cordata (Cogn.)
Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) also known as Marrow mosaic virus, Melon mosaic virus, and until recently Watermelon mosaic virus type 2 (WMV-2), is a plant pathogenic virus that causes viral infection in many different plants. The virus itself is referred to as Watermelon Mosaic Virus II or WMV-2 and is an isolate of the U.S. WMV-2 is a ssRNA positive strand virus that is part of the Potyviridae or Potyvirus clade. Like all RNA viruses, it contains a protein capsid which protects the inner viral RNA. First described on squash in Florida, WMV arose from a unique recombination of genetic material contributed by Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV) along with Peanut Stripe virus (PSV).
Susanne Sabine Renner is a German botanist. Until October 2020, she was a professor of biology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich as well as director of the Botanische Staatssammlung München and the Botanischer Garten München-Nymphenburg. Since January 2021, she lives in Saint Louis, where she is an Honorary Professor of Biology at Washington University and a Research Associate at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Melon necrotic spot virus (MNSV) is a virus that belongs to the genus Gammacarmovirus of the family Tombusviridae. It has been observed in several countries of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is considered to be an endemic virus in greenhouses and field productions of Cucurbitaceae crops, including melon, cucumber, and watermelon. MNSV is mainly spread through infected soil, seedlings, insects, and by the root-inhabiting fungus vector Olpidium bornovanus. Symptoms vary between Curbitaceae crops, but generally consist of chlorosis, brown necrotic lesions, leaf wilt, fruit decay, and plant death. Management of the disease consists of preventing infection by rotating fields and crops, steam sterilization, and disposal of infected plants. Also, treated seeds with heat or chemicals are efficient in preventing infection. MNSV is important in melon plants as it causes vast economical damage worldwide reducing significant yields.
Kalahari melon oil also known as Tsamma (Damara/Nama), wild watermelon (English), bitterboela, karkoer (Afrikaans), wild watermelon, makatane (Setswana) or Mokaté oil, is a plant oil, extracted from the seeds of the Kalahari melon (Citrullus vulgaris), which is endemic to the Kalahari Desert, spanning Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Being one of 1,200 varieties of melon, Kalahari melon oil is distinct from regular watermelon seed oil. The seed of the Kalahari melon consists of approximately 50% oil, 35% protein and 5% dietary fibre.
| Benincasa |
|  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citrullus |
| ||||||
| Cucumis |
| ||||||
| Other species | |||||||
| See also | |||||||
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
