Cucumbers

This article explains the vegetable plant, for the sculpture of the same name in Salzburg see Gurken (Salzburg) .

Cucumbers
Cucumber ( Cucumis sativus )
Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons Rosids Eurosiden I Order : Pumpkin-like (Cucurbitales) Family : Pumpkin family (Cucurbitaceae) Genre : Cucumbers
Scientific name
Cucumis
L.

The cucumbers ( Cucumis ) constitute a genus within the family of the Cucurbitaceae (Cucurbitaceae). The approximately 52 species have areas in tropical to temperate areas. 30 Cucumis species are found in Africa, 25 in India, Southeast Asia and Australia.

description

Illustration from Icones plantarum medico-oeconomico-technologicarum of the sugar melon ( Cucumis melo )

Cucumis myriocarpus

Vegetative characteristics

Cucumis species are mostly climbing, annual to perennial, herbaceous plants . The aboveground parts of the plant are often hairy. The leaves, which are usually arranged alternately and spirally on the stems , are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blade can be undivided or three- to five-lobed hand-shaped. The leaf margin can be smooth to toothed. Stipules are missing.

Generative characteristics

The flowers are usually unisexual, hermaphroditic are rarely found. The Cucumis species are monoecious or dioecious ( dioecious ). The female flowers are solitary, the male in several groups in the leaf axils.

The stalked or sessile flowers are radial symmetry , five-fold and have a double perianth . The five sepals are fused, the five petals are fused bell-shaped. In the male and hermaphrodite flowers there is only one circle with three fertile stamens . In the female and hermaphrodite flowers is a carpel present, or two to five carpels are at a constant below, parakarpen (= the ovary is not divided by septa) ovary grown. The cucumbers have a style with a mostly three-lobed stigma. They are pollinated by insects ( entomophilia ).

Botanically, the fruits are berries ; in natural forms they have a diameter of 1.5 to 7 cm and are 15 to 120 mm long. They contain 20 to 100 seeds, which can be winged or winged.

Systematics

Subgenus Humifructus : Cucumis hirsutus

Subgenus Cucumis Section Cucumis : Sugar melon ( Cucumis melo )

Subgenus Cucumis Section Aculeatosi : Cucumis anguria

Subgenus Cucumis Section Aculeatosi : Cucumis dipsaceus

Subgenus Cucumis Section Aculeatosi : Cucumis zeyheri

Subgenus Cucumis section Metuliferi : Horned cucumber ( Cucumis metuliferus )

DNA sequence analyzes in 2006 showed that the genus Cucumis was paraphyletic to the extent that it was at that time, since the genera Cucumella , Dicoelospermum , Mukia , Myrmecosicyos and Oreosyce were within the genus Cucumis . A year later, Hanno Schäfer also formally transferred the species of these genera to the genus Cucumis and carried out the following restructuring of the genus, which thus includes 52 species:

• Subgenus Humifructus H.Schaef.
  • Series Humifructosi J.H. Kirkbr .
    • Cucumis hirsutus Sond. : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa.
    • Cucumis humifructus stent : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa.
• Subgenus Cucumis
  • Cucumis section
    • Cucumis gracilis (short) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in Thailand and Myanmar.
    • Cucumis hystrix Chakrav. : It occurs in India, Thailand, Myanmar and Yunnan .
    • Cucumis javanicus (Miq.) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in tropical Asia, Taiwan and China.
    • Cucumis leiospermus (Wight & Arn.) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in Sri Lanka .
    • Cucumis maderaspatanus L .: It occurs in Asia, Africa and Australia.
    • Sugar melon ( Cucumis melo L. )
    • Cucumis ritchiei (CBClarke) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in India.
    • Cucumis rumphianus (Scheff.) H.Schaef. : It occurs in Indonesia and New Guinea.
    • Cucumber ( Cucumis sativus L. )
  • Section Aculeatosi J.H. Kirkbr .
    • Cucumis aculeatus Cogn. : It occurs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Zaire.
    • Cucumis africanus L. f. : It occurs in southern Africa.
    • Cucumis anguria L .: The home is Africa. But it also occurs in Australia, Madagascar, Mexico, Florida, the Caribbean, Central and South America.
    • Cucumis baladensis Thulin : It occurs in Somalia .
    • Cucumis canoxyi Thulin & Al-Gifri : It occurs in Yemen and Oman .
    • Cucumis carolinus J.H. Kirkbr. : It occurs in Ethiopia and Kenya.
    • Cucumis dipsaceus Ehrenb. ex Spach : It is native to Africa and Arabia.
    • Cucumis ficifolius A.Rich. : It occurs in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Zaire.
    • Cucumis hastatus Thulin : It occurs in Somalia.
    • Cucumis heptadactylus Naudin : It occurs in South Africa.
    • Cucumis insignis C.Jeffrey (Syn .: Cucumis prolatior J.H. Kirkbr . ): It occurs in Ethiopia and Kenya.
    • Cucumis jeffreyanus Thulin : The home is Ethiopia and Eritrea , but it also occurs in Kenya.
    • Cucumis kalahariensis A.Meeuse : It occurs in Botswana , Namibia and the North Cape .
    • Cucumis meeusei C.Jeffrey : It occurs in Botswana, Namibia and the North Cape.
    • Cucumis messorius (C.Jeffrey) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in Kenya.
    • Cucumis myriocarpus Naudin : It occurs in two subspecies in southern Africa and is a neophyte in Australia.
    • Cucumis prophetarum L .: It occurs in two subspecies in Africa, in Arabia, Western Asia, India and in Pakistan.
    • Cucumis pubituberculatus Thulin : It occurs in Somalia.
    • Cucumis pustulatus Hook. f. : It occurs in tropical Africa and in Arabia.
    • Cucumis quintanilhae R. Fern. & A.Fern. : It occurs in Zimbabwe and Limpopo .
    • Cucumis rigidus E. Mey. ex Sond. : It occurs in Namibia and the North Cape.
    • Cucumis thulinianus J.H. Kirkbr . : It occurs in Somalia .
    • Cucumis zeyheri Sond. : It occurs in southern tropical and southern Africa.
  • Section Sagittati H.Schaef.
    • Cucumis globosus C. Jeffrey : It occurs in Tanzania.
    • Cucumis sagittatus Peyr. : It occurs in Namibia, Angola and the North Cape.
  • Section Metuliferi (JHKirkbr.) H. Schaef.
    • Horned cucumber or kiwano ( Cucumis metuliferus E.Mey. Ex Naudin )
    • Cucumis rostratus J.H. Kirkbr. : It occurs in Ivory Coast and Nigeria .
    • Cucumis sacleuxii Pailleux & Bois : It occurs in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zaire and Madagascar.
  • Section Cucumella (Chiov.) H. Schaef .
    • Cucumis aëtheocarpus (C.Jeffrey) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in Tanzania and Mozambique .
    • Cucumis asper Cogn. : It occurs in Namibia.
    • Cucumis bryoniifolius (Merxm.) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in eastern and southern tropical Africa and in the Transvaal .
    • Cucumis cinereus (Cogn.) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in eastern and southern tropical Africa, in the Transvaal and in Madagascar.
    • Cucumis clavipetiolatus (JHKirkbr.) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in Namibia.
    • Cucumis engleri (Gilg) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in Kenya.
    • Cucumis indicus Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in India.
    • Cucumis kelleri (Cogn.) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.
    • Cucumis kirkbridei Ghebret. & Thulin (Syn .: Cucumis kirkbrideana H.Schaef. ): It occurs in tropical Africa.
    • Cucumis reticulatus (A.Fern. & R.Fern.) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in Angola.
    • Cucumis silentvalleyi (Manilal et al.) Ghebret. & Thulin : It occurs in the Indian state of Kerala .
    • Cucumis subsericeus Hook. f. (Syn .: Cucumis oreosyce H.Schaef. ): It occurs in tropical and southern Africa and also in Madagascar.

See also

• Cucumber processing

literature

• Amanuel G. Ghebretinsae, Mats Thulin, Janet C. Barber: Relationships of cucumbers and melons unraveled: molecular phylogenetics of Cucumis and related genera (Benincaseae, Cucurbitaceae). In: American Journal of Botany , Volume 94, Issue 7, 2007, pp. 1256-1266. doi : 10.3732 / ajb.94.7.1256
• Hanno Schaefer: Cucumis (Cucurbitaceae) must include Cucumella, Dicoelospermum, Mukia, Myrmecosicyos, and Oreosyce: a recircumscription based on nuclear and plastid DNA data . Blumea, Volume 52, 2007, pp. 165–177 (online) (systematics)
• SS Renner, H. Schaefer, A. Kocyan: Phylogenetics of Cucumis (Cucurbitaceae): Cucumber (C-sativus) belongs in an Asian / Australian clade far from melon (C-melo). In: BMC Evolutionary Biology , 7, 2007. (online) (PDF; 391 kB)
• PM Sebastian, H. Schaefer, IRH Telford, SS Renner: Cucumber and melon have their wild progenitors in India, and the sister species of Cucumis melo is from Australia. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Volume 107, Issue 32, 2010, pp. 14269-14273. (online) (PDF; 1.5 MB)
• IRH Telford, PM Sebastian, JJ Bruhl, SS Renner. 2011. Cucumis (Cucurbitaceae) in Australia and eastern Malesia, including newly recognized species and the sister species to C. melo. In: Systematic Botany , Volume 36, Issue 2, pp. 376–389, (online)

Web links

Commons : Cucumbers ( Cucumis )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Cucumber  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Description of the genus in the Western Australian flora. (engl.)
• Description in the Flora of Pakistan. (engl.)
• The Cucurbit Network.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sebastian et al. (2010); Telford et al. (2011).
2. ↑ Alexander Kocyan, Li-Bing Zhang, Hanno Schaefer, Susanne S. Renner: A multi-locus chloroplast phylogeny for the Cucurbitaceae and its implications for character evolution and classification . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 44, August 2007, pp. 553-577. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2006.12.022
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av} Cucumis in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved January 19, 2017.