Cucurbitaceae

Cucurbitaceae Juss., Gen. Pl. 393. 1789. nom. cons. 'Gourd Family'

Characteristic Features:

Monoecious or dioecious vines, usually with tendrils
Leaves palmately veined
Female flowers epiperigynous, usually tricarpellary, syncarpous with parietal placentation
Fruit a pepo, capsule or samara

Diversity:

World- 134 genera 965 species (The Plant List 2013); 95 genera, 965 species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016); 97 genera, 990 species (Mabberely 2017); 103 genera, 1087 species (CoL 2021)
India - 31 genera 94 species (Renner & Pandey 2012); 32 genera, 106 species (BSI, 2021)
Indian Himalaya- 34 genera, 68 species (Singh et al. 2019)
Uttarakhand -19 genera 38 species (Uniyal et al. 2007)

General Characters:

Cucurbitaceae in Watson & Dallwitz (1992 onwards)
Cucurbitaceae in Stevens (2001 onwards)
Cucurbitaceae in POWO 2021 (Plants of the World Online)
Cucurbitaceae in Wikipedia

Systematic Position of the Family in Different Systems of Classifications:

Systematic position in 2-Superkingdom, 7-Kingdom classification of Ruggiero et al. (2015)

Super Kingdom- Eukaryota, Kingdom- Plantae, Subkingdom- Viridiplantae, Infrakingdom- Streptophyta, Superphylum- Embryophyta, Phylum- Tracheophyta, Subphylum- Spermatophytina, Superclass- Angiospermae, Class- Magnoliopsida, Superorder-Rosanae, Order-Cucurbitales

Bentham & Hooker (1862-83)

Class : Dicotyledons
Subclass : Polypetalae
Series : Calyciflorae
Orders : Passiflorales

Engler & Prantl (1887-1915)

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Embryophyta Siphonogama
Subdivision: Angiospermae
Class : Dicotyledoneae
Subclass : Metachlamydeae
Order : Cucurbitales

Hutchinson (1973)

Phylum : Angiospermae
Subphylum: Dicotyledones
Division : Lignosae
Order : Cucurbitales

Cronquist (1988)

Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Dilleniidae
Order : Violales

Thorne & Reveal (2007)

Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Rosidae
Super Order : Violanae
Order : Violales

Takhtajan (2009)

Phylum : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Dilleniidae
Super Order: Violanae
Order : Cucurbitales

Reveal (2012)

Class : Equisetopsida
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Super Order: Rosanae
Order : Cucurbitales
Suborder : Cucurbitineae

APG-IV (2016)

Clade : Angiosperms
Clade : Eudicots
Clade : Core Eudicots
Clade : Superrosids
Clade : Rosids
Clade : Fabids
Order : Cucurbitales

Shipunov (2016)

Class : Angiospermae
Subclass : Rosidae
Super Order: Rosanae
Order : Cucurbitales

Genera & Species in Pantnagar

To see larger images please click on the names

~Wild Flora~

Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt.

Luffa echinata Roxb. (Male)

Luffa echinata Roxb. (Female)

Luffa graveolens Roxb.

Momordica balsamina L.

Mukia maderaspatana (L.) M.Roem.

Cucumis melo L. subsp. agrestis (Naudin) Pangalo

Diplocyclos palmatus (L.) C.Jeffrey

Trichosanthes cucumerina L.

Trichosanthes dioica Roxb. (Male)

Cultivated Flora

Cucumis sativus L.

Vernacular name: Cucumber (English); Kheera (Hindi)

Nativity: Himalaya to China (POWO, 2019)

Common Characteristics: Climbing herbs. Stem angular, pubescent, fistular. Leaves palmately 5 lobed, hispid. Fruit oblongoid.

Flowering period: March to June

Propagation Methods: Propagated by seeds (Dave’s Garden)

Photographed @ Jha Colony

Cucurbita maxima Duchesne.

Vernacular name: Pumpkin, Giant pumpkin, Great pumpkin, Melon pumpkin, pumpkin (English); Lal kaddu, Kashiphal (Hindi)

Nativity:Bolivia to North Argentina (POWO, 2019)

Common Characteristics: Annual climbers, dioecious. Leaves reniform to rounded, petiole long and hollow. Flowers unisexual. Fruit large oval- rounded, ribbed.

Flowering period: May to October

Propagation Methods: Propagated by seeds (Dave’s Garden, 2019)