**Description of Cucurbitaceae:**
– Most plants in this family are annual vines.
– Some species are woody lianas, thorny shrubs, or trees like Dendrosicyos.
– Many species have large, yellow or white flowers.
– Stems are hairy and pentangular.
– Flowers are unisexual, with male and female flowers on different plants or on the same plant.
**Genera and Species in Cucurbitaceae:**
– Alsomitra (1 species).
– Gynostemma (10 species).
– Hemsleya (30 species).
– Neoalsomitra (12 species).
– Lagenaria (6 species).
**Tribes within Cucurbitaceae:**
– Triceratieae: Anisosperma (1 species).
– Zanonieae: Gerrardanthus (3-5 species).
– Actinostemmateae: Actinostemma (3 species).
– Indofevilleeae: Indofevillea (2 species).
– Thladiantheae: Baijiania (30 species).
**Vector of Cucurbit Viruses:**
– Sweet potato whitefly is the vector of several cucurbit viruses.
– These viruses cause yellowing symptoms in the southern United States.
**References and Further Reading:**
– Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009) updated classification for flowering plants.
– Christenhusz & Byng (2016) on the number of known plant species.
– Schaefer & Renner (2011) on phylogenetic relationships in Cucurbitales.
– de Boer et al. (2012) study on the evolution of snake gourds.
– Schaefer et al. (2009) on the Asian origin of the gourd family.
– Bates D, Robinson R, Jeffrey C, eds. (1990). Biology and Utilization of the Cucurbitaceae. Cornell University Press. ISBN978-0-8014-1670-5.
– Jeffrey C. (2005). A new system of Cucurbitaceae. Bot. Zhurn. 90: 332–335.
– External links for further exploration.
The Cucurbitaceae (/kjuːˌkɜːrbɪˈteɪsiːˌiː/), also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera. Those most important to humans are the following:[citation needed]
- Cucurbita – squash, pumpkin, zucchini or courgette, some gourds
- Lagenaria – calabash, and others that are inedible
- Citrullus – watermelon (C. lanatus, C. colocynthis) and others
- Cucumis – cucumber (C. sativus), various melons and vines
- Momordica – bitter melon
- Luffa – the common name is also luffa, sometimes spelled loofah (when fully ripened, two species of this fibrous fruit are the source of the loofah scrubbing sponge)
- Cyclanthera – Caigua
| Cucurbitaceae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Hodgsonia male plant | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Cucurbitales |
| Family: | Cucurbitaceae Juss. |
| Type genus | |
| Cucurbita | |
| Tribes and genera | |
|
See text. | |
The plants in this family are grown around the tropics and in temperate areas, where those with edible fruits were among the earliest cultivated plants in both the Old and New Worlds. The family Cucurbitaceae ranks among the highest of plant families for number and percentage of species used as human food. The name Cucurbitaceae comes to international scientific vocabulary from Neo-Latin, from Cucurbita, the type genus, + -aceae, a standardized suffix for plant family names in modern taxonomy. The genus name comes from the Classical Latin word cucurbita, meaning "gourd".