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Cucumis melo

Botanic Family

Cucurbitaceae

Author

Linnaeus

Common Names

• Cantaloupe
• Melon
• Muskmelon
• Dudaim Melon
• Pomegranate Melon
• Queen Anne's-pocket Melon
• Snake Cucumber
• Snake Melon
• Tian gua (Pinyin)
• Karbuz or Dhundal or Satpatia (India)
• Timo (Fiji)
• Eaea (Tahiti)
• Sweet melon
• Thakwa-hmwe or Kasit or Nga-pyok-thakwa or Tha-but-chaw or Thabaut-kha or Tha-but-nwe (Myanmar)
• Rhetimou (Hindi)
• Chate (Egyptian)
• Hairy Cucumber
• Quâ dúa hông
• E-atu (Tahiti)
• 'atiu (Tonga)
• Sponge Gourd
• Loofah
• Vegetable Sponge
• Dishcloth Gourd
• Dishrag Gourd
• Rag Gourd
• Smooth Loofah
• Sze-kwa
• Ghyura (Bhojpuri
• Mooshar)
• Porali (Chepang)
• Ghiraunla (Danuwar
• Nepali
• Sunwar)
• Luffa
• Toragy (Gurung)
• Kalhubi (Lepcha)
• Toryang (Limbu)
• Gharaunla (Magar)
• Bonnet Gourd
• Loof
• Polancha (Newari)
• Wachitbob (Rai)
• Porol (Tamang)
• Ghiwaha Torai (Tharu)
• Sooly-qua
• Ghia
• Si gua (Pinyin)
• Mak Bouop (Laos)
• Estropajo or Pashte (Spanish)
• Ghia Tori (Pakistan)
• Vusovuso (Fiji)
• Common Loofah
• Esponja
• Estropajo
• Sponge Cucumber
• Strainer Vine
• Liff or Louff (Arabia)
• Móp or Cây Bông Mdóp or Paille Boune or Quâ Múóp Huong (Vietnam)
• Huerharho or Huaroro (Tahiti)
• Ketola Manis (Singapore)
• Servilleta
• Dhundol Pata (Bangladesh)
• Vietnamese Gourd
• Vietnamese Luffa
• Meloncito (Colombia)
• Pepinillo (Colombia)

Geographical Habitats

• Afghanistan
• Angola
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Western Australia - Australia
• Chad
• Eritrea
• Ethiopia
• Gulf States
• India
• Iran
• Iraq
• Kenya
• Lebanon
• Liberia
• Malawi
• Mozambique
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Palestine
• Saudi Arabia
• Somalia
• Northern Provinces - South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• Sudan
• Syria
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Yemen
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Natural Habitats

• Wasteland
• coastal area
• forest
• riverside
• thickets.

Flowering Times

• May-Sep (China)
• Jun-Sep (India)

Fruiting Times

• May-Sep (China)

Large annual herbaceous hispid 2-6 branched tendril, scabrid-stemmed monoecious vine, creeping or climbing to 15m. 3-7 lobed or angled toothed scabrid leaves to 250mm x 270mm, tetragonal stems. Axillary racemes up 20 flowers 150mm long, 5 petals 30mm long, small bracts of male 90mm diameter yellow flowers with green veins, petals to 45mm long,5 calyx lobes to 12mm. Female flowers solitary axillary 100mm wide yellow flowers sepals to 16mm long. Green warty villous beaked berries with longitudinal dark stripes to 900mm x 120mm, oblong club-shaped, 10-angled fruits, edible when young,

Medicinal, diuretic & purgative

Further References

• Sturtevant 1919
• Mobot
• FOC
• Bodkin
• FI
• JDH
• J.S. Gamble
• The Plant List 2
• BF
• VOPR
• JPS
• USNH
• Botanicus
• F Indochine
• FNWNG
• FOTA
• Menninger 1970
• Bailey 1976
• Beckett 1990
• Huxley 1992
• Rubatzky 1997
• Manandhar 2002
• NHN
• NYBG
• Llamas 2003
• FCP
• Welw
• Bodkin
• FB
• JPS
• FI
• GBS
• FOL
• SAFIO
• Tanziman Ara
• Academia