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286 Crop Post-Harvest: Science and Technology , First Edition. Edited by Debbie Rees, Graham Farrell and John Orchard. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2012 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 14 Cucurbits Steven A. Sargent and Donald N. Maynard INTRODUCTION TO THE CULTIVATED CUCURBITS The cultivated species of the Cucurbitaceae or gourd family are collectively called cucurbits. The horticultural types are mostly monoecious, frost-intolerant herbaceous annuals. All are tendril bearing vines with alternate, mostly dissected, palmate leaves. The flowers are mostly yellow, sometimes white and often quite showy. Staminate flowers have five petals and three stamens. Pistillate flowers have an inferior ovary with three carpels Figure 14.1. Flowers are open for only one day and pollen transfer is effected by insects, mostly bees. The fruit is a single to multi-seeded, fleshy berry called pepo. Fruit size varies from 100 g in some miniature gourds to the Guinness Book of Records 118 kg watermelon and 513 kg pumpkin making cucurbits the largest known fruits. The cultivated cucurbits are native to the subtropical and tropical Americas, Africa, and Asia. Melon Cucumis melo The principal melons of commerce are grouped in C. melo Cantalupensis Group having such local names as cantaloupe, muskmelon, rock melon, and sweet melon and C. melo Inodorus Group that includes honeydew, crenshaw casaba and juan canary types. Melon is thought to have originated in southern Africa where landraces abound. Diverse local populations are found in India and the Middle East suggesting that these areas may be centres of origin as well. Melon was first noted in Europe in the fifteenth century following widespread dispersal throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East. At the end of the century, Columbus brought melon to the Americas. Cantaloupe is andromonoecious. Fruit are round or oval, tan or straw-coloured, and usually weigh 1 to 3 kg Figure 14.2. They are netted to some degree and are smooth or have apparent vein tracts. Fruit separate from the peduncle slip at maturity. Inodorus melons also are andromonoecious. Fruit are round to oval, white to yellow at maturity, smooth or wrinkled and not netted. Fruit usually weigh 2 to 4 kg and do not slip at maturity Maynard Maynard 2000; Robinson Decker-Walters 1997. Cucumber Cucumis sativus There are three horticultural types of cucumbers: slicing, pickling and greenhouse Figure 14.3. The former two are grown outdoors, and the latter in some protected structure. Fruit morphology serves to distinguish among these types. Slicing cucumber fruit are white spined, smooth and cylindrical with tapered ends and have a length:diameter ratio of about 4:0. Pickling cucumbers may have black or white spines, have a somewhat warty appearance, and have a length:diameter ratio of about 3:0. There are two distinctive cucumbers for greenhouse culture: Beit Alpha and English or Dutch type. Both types are parthenocarpic and gynoecious. The English types are very smooth, cylindrical, 30 to 35 cm long, and are typically constricted at the stem end. Beit Alpha types are cylindrical, tapering at both ends, with inconspicuous longitudinal striations, and are 15 to 20 cm long.