Fl. China 19: 48–50. 2011. 26. CUCUMIS Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1011. 1753. 黄瓜属 huang gua shu Lu Anmin (路安民 Lu An-ming); Charles Jeffrey Herbs, scandent or creeping, annual. Stem and branches scabrous, hispid. Tendrils slender, simple. Leaf blade almost orbicular, reniform, or cordate-ovate, undivided or palmately 3–7-lobed. Plants monoecious, rarely dioecious, or flowers hermaphroditic. Male flowers fascicled or solitary; calyx tube campanulate, 5-lobed; segments subulate; corolla rotate or subcampanulate, 5-lobed; seg-ments oblong or ovate; stamens 3, free, inserted on corolla tube; anthers oblong, one 1-celled, two 2-celled; anther cells linear, reflexed or curved; connective produced; rudimentary ovary glandular. Female flowers solitary or fascicled; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes 3, subulate; ovary cylindric; ovules numerous, horizontal; style short; stigmas 3–5. Fruit polymorphic, fleshy, indehiscent, smooth or verrucose. Seeds numerous, compressed, emarginate. About 32 species: tropical and temperate regions, most species in Africa; four species in China. 1a. Fruit smooth; ovary hairy ..................................................................................................................................................... 1. C. melo 1b. Fruit and ovary muriculate or verrucose or sparsely tuberculate, not hairy. 2a. Fruit oblong or cylindric, (5–)10–50 cm ................................................................................................................... 2. C. sativus 2b. Fruit oblong, smaller than 5 cm. 3a. Fruit oblong, at least twice as long as broad, muricate ........................................................................................ 3. C. hystrix 3b. Fruit obovoid, only slightly longer than broad, sparsely obscurely tuberculate ................................................. 4. C. debilis 1. Cucumis melo Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1011. 1753. 甜瓜 tian gua Plants creeping. Stems and branches scabrous, puberulent, or hispid. Tendrils filiform, puberulent. Petiole 7–12 cm, setose; leaf blade suborbicular or reniform, 6–15 × 6–15 cm, papery, abaxially hispid, adaxially scabrous, undivided or 3–7-lobed, dentate; sinus truncate or rounded. Plants monoecious or flow-ers bisexual. Male flowers 1 or 2 to several, fasciculate; pedi-cels filiform, 0.5–4 cm, pubescent; calyx tube narrowly cam-panulate, 3–8 mm, densely hispidulous to white villous; seg-ments subulate or linear, 2–4 × 0.4–1.2 mm; corolla yellow; tube 1–2 mm; segments ovate-oblong to broadly ovate or obo-vate, 3–24 × 2.5–20 mm, obtuse; anther cells flexuous. Female flowers solitary; ovary ellipsoid or fusiform, 4–11 × 2–5 mm, densely white lanate, villous or puberulent; style 1–2 mm; stig-mas 3, 2–2.5 mm. Fruit very variable in size, shape, color, odor, and taste. Seeds numerous, yellow-white, ovate-oblong, 4–8 × 2.4–4 mm, smooth, base rounded, apex acute, emarginate. Fl. and fr. May–Sep. Farmlands, roadsides. Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Xinjiang, C and E China; also cultivated throughout China [native to Old World tropics and subtropics; introduced in New World tropics; widely cultivated in tropical and temperate countries]. 1a. Ovary densely villous or white lanate, with spreading hairs; (cultivated) fruit sweet ................................................... 1a. subsp. melo 1b. Ovary very shortly and densely puberulent, hairs appressed; (cultivated) fruit not sweet .................... 1b. subsp. agrestis 1a. Cucumis melo subsp. melo 甜瓜(原亚种) tian gua (yuan ya zhong) Cucumis bisexualis A. M. Lu & G. C. Wang. Ovary and young fruit pilose or lanate, with spreading hairs; fruit in cultivated forms fragrant and sweet. Farmlands, roadsides. Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Xinjiang; also cultivated throughout China [native to Old World tropics and sub-tropics; introduced in New World tropics; widely cultivated in tropical and temperate countries]. The fruit is used as a refreshing dessert in summer; the plants are used medicinally. 1b. Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis (Naudin) Pangalo in Zhu-kovskii, Zemledel’ch. Turtsiya, 534. 1933. 菜瓜 cai gua Cucumis melo var. agrestis Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 4, 11: 73. 1859; Bryonia callosa Rottler; C. acidus Jacquin; C. callosus (Rottler) Cogniaux & Harms. Ovary and young fruit sericeous with short appressed hairs; fruit in cultivated forms mostly not fragrant and not sweet. Farmlands, roadsides. C and E China; commonly cultivated in China [throughout Old World tropics; introduced in New World tropics; also commonly cultivated in E and SE Asia, rarely cultivated else-where]. The fruit is used as a vegetable (菜瓜 cai gua). The forms cultivated in China belong to the ‘Conomon’ cultivar group (Cucumis conomon Thunberg, Nova Acta Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal. 3: 208. 1780; C. melo var. conomon (Thunberg) Makino, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 16: 16. 1902). 2. Cucumis sativus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1012. 1753. 黄瓜 huang gua Plants scandent or creeping. Stem and branches angular, white hispid. Tendrils slender, simple. Petiole 10–16(–20) cm; leaf blade broadly ovate-cordate, 7–20 × 7–20 cm, membra-nous, margin 3–5-angular or -lobed; lobes triangular, dentate, apex acute or acuminate; sinus half-orbicular. Plants monoe-Fl. China 19: 48–50. 2011. cious. Male flowers fasciculate; pedicel filiform, 5–15 mm, pu-berulent; calyx tube narrowly campanulate, 8–10 mm, densely white pubescent; segments subulate; corolla yellow-white, ca. 2 cm; segments oblong-lanceolate, acute; anthers 3–4 mm; con-nective ca. 1 mm. Female flowers solitary or fascicled; pedicels pubescent, 1–2 cm; ovary fusiform, muricate. Fruit yellow-green, oblong or cylindric, (5–)10–30(–50) cm, muricate, usu-ally verrucose. Seeds white, small, narrowly ovate, 5–10 mm, emarginate, both ends acute. Fl. and fr. summer. Forests, thickets, mountain slopes; 700–2000 m. Guangxi, Gui-zhou, Yunnan; also commonly cultivated in China [NE India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand; cultivated in all tropical and temperate countries]. 1a. Fruit oblong or cylindric, 10–30(–50) cm, muricate, usually verrucose ........................ 2a. var. sativus 1b. Fruit oblong or subglobose, 5–6 cm, smooth ................................................... 2b. var. hardwickii 2a. Cucumis sativus var. sativus 黄瓜(原变种) huang gua (yuan bian zhong) Fruit oblong or