Trailer or climber, rough to touch. Leaves triangular to ovate with a pointed tip. Flowers in axillary clusters on the main stem. Fruit the common cucumber, mostly prickly when young with white flesh and seeds.

S Asia

There is a range of commercial cultivars available varying in shape, colour and disease resistance; some are seedless. Cultivars include: 'Alexander', 'Amal', 'Be Be', 'Black Prince', 'Burpless', 'Burpless Tasty', 'Calypso', 'Giant Russian', 'Green Gem', 'Levant', 'Long Green Burpless', 'Long White', 'Napoleon', Pepinova™, 'Pronto', 'Redlands', 'Sherwood', 'Sunex'.

The familiar salad vegetable but also, when small, pickled as gherkins.

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Cucurbitaceae. In: Spencer, R.. 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.