Classical name for the cucumber.
Annual trailing and climbing herbs. Male and female flowers separate but on the same plant or bisexual and male flowers on the same plant. Leaves lobed, tendrils unbranched. Flowers mostly 1.5-2.5 cm wide, clustered or solitary, wheel-like with a short tube at the base, yellow. Stamens 3. Fruit fleshy, not splitting.
Source of commercial cantaloupes, rock melons, cucumbers and gherkins.
About 23 species from Africa to S Asia, mostly tropical.
Jeffrey (1980), Kirkbride (1993).
Source: (1997). Cucurbitaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
