Cucurbitaceae

Cucumis melo L.

C. melo L., Sp. PI. 1011 (1753). Syn: C. dudaim L., Sp. PI. 1011 (1753); C. flexuosus L., Sp. PL, ed. 2:1437 (1763); C. trigonus Roxb., Fl. Ind., ed. 2, 2:722 (1832); C. callosus (Rottl.) Cogn. in Engler, Pflanzenreich 88 (IV. 275, 2): 129 (1924); C. microcarpus (Pang.) Pang. in Zhukovsky, Turquie Agricole 534 (1933); C. agrestis (Naud.) Grebensc. in Kulturpfl. 1:134 (1953); Melo orienlalis (S. Kudr.) Nab. in Vvedensky, Fl. Uz. SSR 5:609 (1961). Prostrate annual; stems hispid, Leaves suborbicular, reniform or ovate, cordate, hispid, 2.5-16 x 3-20 cm, very shallowly to deeply palmately 3-7-lobed. Male flowers 2-4(-8) in small clusters; pedicels slender, 2-15(-25) mm; sepals subulate, l.5-2(-4.5) mm; petals 5-22 mm, united near the base. Female flowers solitary, similar to male; pedicels stouter, 2-50 mm; ovary densely hairy, 5-90 mm. Fruits in wild forms, ellipsoid, bitter, 2.5-4 x 1.8-2.8 cm, in cultivated forms-larger, not bitter and very variable. Seeds 3.7-8 x 1.8-4 x 0.9-1.5 mm. Weed of cultivated fields; also cultivated. Described from cultivated plants (lecto. BM!). S. Turkey. C5 Içel: Ayas, Merdivenlikoy, Bay top 14405! 24 km from Mut to Silifke, Reese. C6 Maraş: nr. Maraş, Giaurgoll, 360 m, Hausskn! Throughout the palaeotropics. Palaeotropical (Tethyan) element. Also cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics. The specimens seen (cited above) apparently belong to a race known to be wild further east. Cucumis melo L., as accepted here in the broad sense, covers an exceedingly variable complex of wild and cultivated forms. Some of the cultivated forms are dealt with by Grebenscikov in Kulturpfl. 1:121-138 (1953), but the whole complex has yet to receive a satisfactory taxonomic treatment. In subtropical regions, wild and cultivated forms are very distinct, but in the tropics less so; if the wild forms are treated as a distinct species, the correct name for them appears to be C. acidus Jacq. (1771). For cultivated Turkish forms, see Zhukovsky, 520-525, f. 263-272, & Pangalo in Zhukovsky, 553-543, t. 4-9.