atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

axillary; calyx, 5-lobed; corolla, yellow, 5-petaled; male flowers on peduncles, 5 to 15
cm long; female flowers, subsessile, ovary densely hairy; fruit, 20 to 120 cm long and
15 to 80 cm wide, weighing up to 10 kg or more, melon-like, globose to oblong-
cylindrical, green, with a easy-to-remove white waxy covering, more or less hairy when
young; flesh (pulp), white, spongy; seeds, about 1 to 1.5 cm long and 5 to 7 mm wide,
numerous, central, buff-colored, smooth, flat, ovate-elliptic, with narrow base. Food
plant in Chinese gardens at Location. Flesh of fruit cooked as a vegetable. 5, 6, 7.
Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Tan. var. caffrorum (Alef.) Fosb. "watermelon"
te meren (K); meleni (T)
syns. Citrullus vulgaris var. caflorurn Alef.; C. vulgaris Schrad. ex Eckl. &
Zeyh.
Pre-World War I1 introduction. S. Africa. Rare. Slender, much-branched, wide-
spreading, prostrate, hairy, herbaceous, annual creeper, with rather thin, angular,
grooved stems, 1.5 to 5 m long, branched (bifid or trifid) tendrils and an extensive and
superficial root system; leaves, 5 to 20 cin long and 2 to 12 cm wide, alternate, scabrid
or harshly pubescent, deeply pinnately lobed, the lobes again pinnately lobed and toothed,
with broad apices; flowers, monoecious, solitary, axillary, on short pedicels, 3 to 5 cm
long, bell-shaped (campanulate), usually more male than female flowers; calyx, 5-lobed;
corolla, 2.5 to 3 cm in diameter, deeply 5-parted, pale yellow, petals, 1 to 1.5 cm long;
male flowers, greenish; female flowers, longer-pedunculate, ovary ovoid with woolly
hairs; fruit, large, up to over 50 cm long and 25 cm in diameter and weighing up to 4 to
20 kg, rounded (globose) or oblong; rind, mostly glabrous, dark-green, striped or
patterned, hard, but not durable; flesh (pulp), red to whitish-pink (rarely yellow), watery,
sweet; seeds, 6 to 15 mrn long and 5 to 7 mm wide, many, black, sometimes white
mottled, smooth, flattened, with swellings on either side of the apex. Food plant in home
gardens and as spontaneous juveniles around residences and dump heaps. Fruit eaten raw.
2, 3, 5, 6, 7.
Cucumis melo L. var cantalu pensis Naud. "cantaloupe", "rock melon"
te meren (K); meleni (T); heung kwa, t'im kwa (C)
Recent introduction. S . W. Asia and Africa to the Mediterranean. Occasional.
Softly hairy, trailing, herbaceous, annual vine, with ridged or striated stems, tender
unbranched tendrils, and an extensive and superficial root system; leaves, 7 to 13 cm
across, simple, rounded or kidney-shaped, usually 5-angled and sometimes shallowly 3-
to 7 lobed; petiole, 8 to 16 cm long; flowers, about 2.5 cm across, generally andromonoecious
(with hermaphroditic and male flowers on the same plant), yellow; male
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flowers, often in groups, each on a slender pedicel; hermaphroditic (and female) flowers,
solitary, with shorter and thicker pedicels; fruit, 12 to 24 cm long and 10 to 18 cm in
diameter, globose or oblong, hollow; rind, thick, scaly, rough, netted or often deeply
grooved; flesh (pulp), soft, juicy, pale-orange, slightly sweet or fragrant; seeds, 8 to 12