Higher Taxonomy
Common Name: GOURD FAMILY Habit: Annual, perennial herb; hairs often hard from calcium deposits; generally monoecious. Stem: trailing or climbing, 1--many; tendril generally 1 per node, often branched. Leaf: generally simple, alternate, generally palmate-lobed and -veined, petioled; stipules 0. Inflorescence: at nodes; staminate flowers in racemes, panicles, small clusters, (or 1); pistillate flowers generally 1. Flower: unisexual [bisexual], radial; hypanthium > ovary; calyx generally 5-lobed (or +- 0); corolla rotate to cup- or bell-shaped, generally 5-lobed; stamens 3--5 (or +- 1--3 from fusion), anthers twisted together, often > filaments; ovary +- inferior, chambers 3--5, placentas parietal, styles 1--3, stigmas generally lobed, large. Fruit: berry, drying or not, or capsule, irregularly dehiscent, often gourd- or melon-like. Seed: 1--many. Genera In Family: 100 genera, 700 species: especially tropics; some cultivated (Citrullus, watermelon; Cucumis, cucumber; Cucurbita, gourd, pumpkin, squash; Luffa, loofah; Sechium, chayote). Note: Several cultivated species included Bryonia dioica reported as waifs in California (Howell 1958 Wasmann J Biol 16:1--157), but none recently. eFlora Treatment Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.
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Citrullus
Habit: Annual. Stem: +- hairy; tendril branched. Leaf: deeply, +- palmately lobed; 1° lobes +- pinnately lobed. Inflorescence: staminate, pistillate flowers 1, at different nodes. Flower: corolla generally < 3 cm wide, rotate or shallowly cup-shaped, yellow, deeply 5-lobed, fused part < 1 cm; anthers 3, free; stigmas 3, reniform. Fruit: melon-like, indehiscent, spheric to oblong; rind hard, smooth. Seed: many, +- 1 cm. Species In Genus: 4 species: Africa, southern Asia, Europe. Etymology: (Latin: diminutive of citrus) Jepson eFlora Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising Reference: Dane & Liu 2007 Genet Resources Crop Evol 54:1255--1265 Unabridged Reference: McVaugh 2001 Citrullus In W.R. Anderson (ed), Flora Novo-Galiciana 3:502--503, Univ Michigan Herbarium, Ann Arbor, MichiganIndex of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
Previous taxon: Brandegea bigeloviiNext taxon: Citrullus lanatus var. citroides
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Citation for this treatment: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising 2012, Citrullus, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=9015, accessed on April 24, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 24, 2024.
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