Cucurbitaceae
The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons. The family is predominantly distributed around the tropics, where those with edible fruits were amongst the earliest cultivated plants in both the Old and New Worlds.
The Cucurbitaceae are an important family consisting of approximately 125 genera and 960 species, mainly in regions tropical and subtropical. All species are sensitive to frost. Most of the plants in this family are annual vines but there are also woody lianas, thorny shrubs, and trees. Many species have large, yellow or white flowers. The stems are hairy and pentangular. The flowers are unisexual, with male and female flowers on different plants or on the same plant. The female flowers have inferior ovaries. The fruit is often a kind of modified berry called a pepo.
