CUCURBITACEAE - Department of Land Resource Management

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4 CUCURBITACEAE CUCUMIS L. Monoecious or rarely dioecious, annual or perennial trailing herbs; stems hispid or scabrid-hairy. Tendrils simple. Leaves simple, entire to palmately 3–7-lobed. Male flowers solitary or in fascicles, racemes or pedunculate groups; calyx 5-lobed; corolla 5-lobed, yellow; stamens 3, inserted in about the middle of the campanulate hypanthium; filaments and anthers free; anthers 2 bilocular, 1 unilocular, locules straight, slightly curved or flexuose; with or without an apical connective; disc gland-like or subglobose, free from the tube. Female flowers solitary or in fascicles; perianth similar to male flowers; ovary globose to ellipsoidal, pubescent; ovules few to many, horizontal; staminodes 3 or absent; style inserted in annular disc or disc absent; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit solitary or in axillary clusters, globose, ellipsoidal or ellipsoidaloblong, fleshy, indehiscent or rarely expelling seeds explosively, smooth and glabrous or pubescent, with (not D.R.) scattered to dense fleshy spines, pustules or tubercles; red, yellow, greenish or brownish when ripe. Seeds few to many, elliptic, ovate or obovate, turgid or compressed, smooth, pitted, granular or with thickened raised margins. Genus of more than 50 species, mostly in the Old World tropics and with about 11 species, at least five of them naturalised, in Australia. Four species occur in the N.T.; three of them are in the Top End and are described here, while the introduced C. myriocarpus is common in southern N.T. Several species are widely cultivated and naturalised in tropical regions e.g. C. satvius (Cucumber), C. melo (Cantaloupe, Honeydew Melon), C. metuliferus (Horned Cucumber) and C. anguria (West Indian Gherkin). Formerly more narrowly defined (Jeffrey 1967) but molecular studies indicated that to be monophyletic five further genera – including Mukia – needed to be placed in a more broadly defined Cucumis (Ghebretinsae et al. 2007a, b; Schaefer 2007). Taxonomic references: Jeffrey (1967, 1980); Telford (1982); Kirkbride (1993); Matthew (1999); Ghebretinsae et al. (2007a, b); Renner et al. (2007); Schaefer (2007). 1 Stamens with connective appendages at apex; corolla lobes 6–12 mm long; seeds smooth; fruit ellipsoidal, 10–40 mm ............................................................... C. melo subsp. agrestis 1: Stamens without connective appendages at apex; corolla lobes 1.5–6 mm; seeds granular or pitted; fruit subglobose, 4–12 mm diam..................................... 2 2 Fruit 5–12 mm diam.; leaf lamina commonly longer than wide; 3–8 seeds per fruit............................................................................................................................ C. maderaspatanus 2: Fruit 4–5 mm diam.; leaf lamina frequently wider than long; seeds frequently 2 per fruit, rarely 1 or 3 ............................................................................ C. sp. Gunlom C. maderaspatanus L. Mukia maderaspatana (L.) M. Roem. Perennial trailing or climbing vine; stems to 3 m long and with hooked hairs, with a woody rootstock. Tendrils simple. Leaves simple; nearsessile or with petioles to 45 (84) mm long and with a sparse to dense cover of hooked hairs; lamina triangular to widely deltate, hastate, (26) 30–45 (80) mm long, (18) 25–50 (61) mm wide, rarely palmately 3-lobed; margins dentate to lobulate, with very dense hooked hairs; base cordate; apex obtuse to acuminate; surfaces with a sparse to dense cover of tubercle-based hairs, hairs smaller on the lower surface, densely hairy at base of leaf blade, the prominent veins with a dense cover of larger curved hairs of two sizes. Male flowers in 2–15-flowered fascicles or short racemes; peduncle to 6 mm long; pedicel 1–6 mm long; hypanthium narrowly campanulate, 4–5 mm long; calyx lobes triangular to subulate, 1 mm long; corolla lobes ovate, 1.5–4 mm long, yellow, outer surface sparsely hairy, inner surface papillate; anthers with straight locules. Female flowers in 2–20-flowered fascicles, rarely solitary or co-axillary with males, sessile or on pedicels to 4 mm long; perianth similar to male flowers; ovary globose, 1.5–2 mm diam., sparsely to densely hairy; ovules few; style 2–2.5 mm inserted in annular disc 0.8–1 mm diam. Fruit subglobose, 7–12 mm diam., scattered hairs to 2 mm long, green with paler stripes ripening to red. Seeds 3–8, ovate, 4– 5.5 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide, 1–2 mm high, turgid, surface granular, pale cream or black. Flowering & fruiting: all year. Fig. 2 (Chippendale, A7942; Michell 641; Russell- Smith 1961; Waterhouse 3186); Pl. 2 (unvouchered). FDRV1 March 2011
Tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, Malesia, the Philippines and Australia (W.A., N.T., S.A., Qld). Widespread throughout the N.T. and recorded from an array of soil types and habitats, including low open forest, coastal dune thicket, open desert shrubland, spinifex sandplain, and rocky creek beds and gullies. In the D.R. localities include Fogg Dam, Beatrice Hill, Humpty Doo and Melville Island. C. melo subsp. agrestis (Naudin) Greb. Annual climbing or trailing herb; stems angled, with sparse hairs to 3 mm, growing tip pilose. Tendrils simple. Leaves simple; petioles 10–50 (71) mm, with a sparse to dense cover of hairs to 4 mm long; lamina entire or deeply palmately 5-lobed, (22) 30–55 (89) mm long, 25–45 (71) mm wide; margins lobulate, sinuate-dentate, densely hairy; base cordate; apex acute to obtuse; surfaces usually with a sparse to dense indumentum of hairs surrounded by multicellular rings, or occasionally hairy on only one surface. Male flowers solitary or in 2–5-flowered fascicles; pedicels 5– 14 mm long; hypanthium narrowly campanulate 4–5 mm long, densely hairy; calyx lobes subulate, 1.5–2 mm long, densely hairy; corolla lobes ovate, 6–12 mm long, yellow, with scattered hairs on both surfaces, mucronate. Female flowers solitary, sometimes co-axillary with male flowers; pedicels 3–5 mm long; perianth similar to male flowers; ovary ellipsoidal, 4–6 mm long, 2.5–4 mm diam., pilose, 3-locular; stigma 3-lobed, c. 2 mm long. Fruit ellipsoidal, 15–50 mm long, 10–40 mm diam., glabrous or with short scattered hairs, green to yellow; pedicels 7–25 mm long. Seeds elliptic, 5–8 mm long, 2.5–3 mm wide, 1.5–2 mm thick, compressed, smooth, pale. Flowering & fruiting: Feb.–Sept. Fig. 1 (Andrew 277; Dunlop 10178; Latz 13729 & 14414; Must 422; Russell-Smith 7740); Pl. 3–4 (Kerrigan 1036; Stuckey 575). Tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, Malesia and Australia (W.A., N.T., S.A, Qld, N.S.W.). Found throughout much of the N.T. in an array of habitats, e.g. open woodland and grasslands, along watercourses and in clay soils on the margins of seasonal floodplains. Widespread in the D.R., localities including Humpty Doo, Fogg Dam, Melville Island, and along the Adelaide and Daly rivers. Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis is thought to be the only subspecies of Cucumis melo occurring naturally in Australia, with subsp. melo (containing Rock CUCURBITACEAE 5 Melon and Honeydew Melon) being widely cultivated. Kirkbride (1993) recognised subspecies of C. melo based on the type of pubescence on the hypanthium of female flowers. Thus, in specimens referrable to subsp. melo the fused portion of hypanthium is pilose or lanate (with spreading hairs observable on the youngest of fruit) whereas in specimens of subsp. agrestis the fused portion of the female hypanthium is retrorse-sericeous or antrorse-sericeous (with adpressed hairs observable on the youngest fruit). However, it was also noted that characters of both subspecies can be found in different combinations in Australian material which, following Telford (1982), is here referred to subsp. agrestis. It is not clear whether this is a result of hybridisation with subsp. melo or natural variation within the taxon. In any case, the taxon recognised here is variable with regard to leaf lobing and fruit characters. The most common and widespread form has weakly lobed leaves, often antrorse hypanthium hairs and yellow to green fruit. A form with deeply dissected leaves, patent hypanthium hairs and often purplish, mottled, weakly 3-angled fruit occurs on cracking clay soils south of Katherine. Consumption of fruit by Aboriginal people has been widely recorded with bitter and nonbitter forms recognised (Marrfurra et al. 1995; Wightman & Smith 1989; Wightman et al. 1992a, b; Wightman et al. 1994; Wightman pers. comm.). Irritant hairs should be removed from the outside of the skin before eating. Wightman et al. (1994) recorded the use of juice extracted from fruit, especially young fruit, in the treatment of eye infections. C. sp. Gunlom (J.L. McKean 864b) N.T. Herbarium Mukia sp. Gunlom (J.L. McKean 864b) N.T. Herbarium Trailing or climbing vine; stems with scattered curved hairs, 0.9–1.3 mm long. Leaves simple; petioles (9) 18–28 mm long, with scattered hairs to 1.5 mm long; lamina very widely ovate to depressed-ovate (or reniform); (12) 15–25 mm long, 15–30 mm wide, discolorous (paler underneath); margins sinuate-dentate; base cordate; apex obtuse; surfaces with scattered hairs to 1 mm, the upper surface also with shorter hooked hairs near lamina margins. Male flowers in 3– 9-flowered umbels; peduncle 15–30 mm long; pedicel to 12 mm long; hypanthium 3–7 mm long; calyx lobes subulate, c. 0.5 mm long; corolla lobes FDRV1 March 2011
Page 1 and 2: CUCURBITACEAE B. Crase
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Page 5: Fig. 1 CUCURBITACEAE FDRV1 March 20
Page 9 and 10: CUCURBITACEAE 7 LUFFA Mill. Monoeci
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Page 19: Pl. 6 Luffa graveolens (Photos: I.D

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