Which family do cucumbers and zucchini belong to? community of green men

Pumpkin.

Nutritional value and medicinal properties.
Pumpkin fruits are extremely useful. Their pulp is rich in sugars, carotene, vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, E, PP. Vitamin T was found in the pumpkin, which helps to speed up metabolic processes in the body - the intensive absorption of meat and other heavy foods.
The pulp of pumpkin fruits contains salts of phosphoric acid, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and in terms of the amount of iron, pumpkin is the champion among vegetables. It is especially rich in potassium and pectin, which prevent inflammation of the large intestine.
Connoisseurs claim that frequent consumption of pumpkin porridge gives a wonderful effect on hypertension, obesity and metabolic disorders. For insomnia, it has long been recommended to drink pumpkin juice or pumpkin decoction with honey at night.
Its seeds contain up to 52% oil and up to 28% protein, a lot of zinc salts and vitamin E, so they are more nutritious and healthier than sunflower seeds. On the basis of pumpkin seed oil, the drug tykveol was created, which stimulates the liver. Pumpkin seeds are a harmless anthelmintic, and the taste of the seed nucleoli rivals that of nuts.
Pumpkin improves digestion, so it is included in diets for obesity, decreased gallbladder function, edema caused by cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, gout, kidney disease, intestinal inflammation.
Raw pumpkin is added to salads. Soups, cereals, fillings for pies are prepared from it, and also marinated.

large-fruited pumpkin the most cold-resistant, but later ripening than hard-bark. The stem of the plant is cylindrical. The fruits are large in size, long shelf life, high taste
qualities and multi-seeded (100-300 g). The seeds are milky white, smooth, with an indistinct rim along the edges.

hardbark gourd well adapted to sudden temperature fluctuations. Her stem is sharply faceted, furrowed. The fruits are small, with a woody bark and prickly subulate pubescence. Seeds are small and medium, yellowish, with a rim of the same color.

Butternut squash the most thermophilic and late-ripening, mostly long-branched, without bush forms. The stem is rounded. The fruits are small and medium, elongated, narrowed in the middle. The flesh is orange, with a nutmeg aroma. The seeds are elongated, with a twisted or fleecy rim, the color of which is darker than the color of the seed.
In addition to the listed species, amateur vegetable growers grow
dining, fodder, gymnosperms (Cinderella variety), decorative and utensil pumpkins . Biologically, they are similar to those mentioned above.

Pumpkin is a heat and light-loving crop, its seeds begin to germinate at 13°C, and in some varieties at 10÷ 12°C. Normal plant growth proceeds at a temperature of 20÷ 30°C. Lowering the temperature to 14°C and below, especially at night, has a dramatic effect on fruit formation, since the fruits mainly grow at night. Period from germination to fruit ripening 100÷ 160 days. With thickening and shading, the plants are oppressed, the ripening of fruits is delayed, the yield and taste are reduced. Plants need the most intense light during flowering and fruit ripening.

Thanks to its powerful root system, pumpkin is more drought-resistant, but responds well to watering, especially during periods of root formation and intensive fruit growth. Especially moisture-loving and thermophilic nutmeg pumpkin.

The soil. The plot for sowing pumpkins should be well warmed up, with light fertile soils, unshaded. Any predecessor except cucumber. The soil is dug up in autumn to a depth of 25÷ 30 cm, manure or humus is added for digging at the rate of 10÷ 20kg per 1m2. Superphosphate is added in the spring - 40÷ 60g, potassium nitrate 30 ÷ 40g and ammonium nitrate 10 ÷ 15g per 1m2. Potash fertilizer can be replaced with double the amount of wood ash. Fertilizers can be applied before sowing in the hole: 2÷ 3 kg of humus, 6 g of superphosphate and 3 g of potassium and ammonium nitrate each.

cultivation. Sowing seeds under film shelters is carried out 10- May 15, planting seedlings - 15- May 20, in open ground - respectively 25- 30 May and 8 - 12 June. Pumpkin seeds remain viable for up to 10 years. Sowing seeds can be carried out earlier - 18-25 May, as the pumpkin is more cold-resistant than cucumbers. Sow seeds in holes 2÷ 3pcs. to a depth of 3 h 5cm The distance between the holes for the climbing pumpkin is 140*70 or 140*140, for the bush 90*90 or 100*100cm. When the first true leaf appears, the plants are thinned out, leaving one plant in the hole. Seedlings are grown in pots. Properly prepared seedlings should be hardened and healthy, havelow stocky stem with short internodes and two to three well-developed true leaves. During the growing season, plants are fed 2 times. Particularly effective top dressing in phase 2÷ 3 leaves and before flowering. Useful top dressing solutions of slurry (1:1) and chicken manure (1:15- 20). During the growing season, side shoots are pinched at the pumpkin, and when 5- 7 fruits, then the top of the stem, leaving above the fruit 4- 5 leaves. Pumpkin watered abundantly, 1÷ 2 buckets of water under a bush, since the optimal soil moisture for it is 70- 80%. The frequency of watering depends on weather conditions.

Growing on compost heap .
For growing pumpkins, you can build a special greenhouse-house. The base of the greenhouse is made of boards and is a box 1.5 m wide, 2.5 m long and 45 cm high. spring time. Along the perimeter, bars 2 m high are placed vertically, which are like a trellis (vertical culture).
Since autumn, you need to take care of a warm bedding under the pumpkin. The basis is tops, leaves, sawdust, chopped bark, kitchen waste, etc. All this mass should fill the greenhouse by about 2/3, it should be sprinkled with lime or ash on top and left in this form for the winter.
In the spring, at the first opportunity, the greenhouse is almost filled to the top fresh manure, sprinkling it with sawdust. Then prepare holes for pumpkin plants. In the greenhouse described above, 12 holes are made with a diameter of about 50 cm. 1.5 buckets of humus are poured into each. Now it remains to cover the entire surface old film and very carefullypress down with stones not only along the edges, but also in the middle. Thus, we increase the temperature in the root system of pumpkins, which is extremely important for all gourds. The soil under the film and stones warms up well and is warm enough by the time the seedlings are planted. In addition, the manure under the pumpkin ripens well, as it is constantly moistened and covered with the leaves of the pumpkin itself.

vertical culture
In small areas, pumpkin has been successfully grown on a vertical trellis along the south side of a house or fence. This method is well suited for small-fruited or decorative species pumpkins. To do this, dig holes at a distance of 50 cm from each other, stuff them with manure mixed with earth, and water with a solution of potassium permanganate. First option: A stake is placed near each plant and a cord is tied to it, the other end of which is fixed at the roof eaves or on top of the fence. A whip is launched along the cord. Two ovaries are left on each plant, growth points are pinched, lateral shoots without fruits are cut out, and the lower lateral ones are cut.
Another option: At the time of removing the covering material, the pumpkin lashes must be tied to the vertical crossbars, carefully distributing them at the same distance from each other. In the future, all growing lashes must be removed from the thick and brought out into the sun. As a result, pumpkins produce full-fledged flowers.
When the plants are completely wrapped around the trellises, the sight of green leaves, unusual flowers and bright yellow fruits resembling melons makes an indelible impression. It is likely that this will be the most beautiful corner of your garden.

Harvest. Pumpkin is also harvested in early September, before the onset of frost. Signs of fruit ripeness are drying and corking of the stalk (it is cut off together with the fruit), a well-marked pattern of the bark and its hardening. Well-ripened, healthy fruits are dried, heated in the sun for 8÷ 10 days and put in storage.

For long-term storage, fruits of maturing varieties containing a lot of starch are suitable. During storage, the starch is hydrolyzed, resulting in an increase in the amount of soluble sugars and the fruit becomes sweeter. Mandatory conditions for long-term storage of pumpkins are good ventilation and protection from sunlight. So its better
only store in ventilated areas at a temperature of 3...8 °C and a relative humidity of 60-75%. The fruits are placed on racks in one row with the stalk up so that they do not touch each other. The pumpkin can be placed in boxes in rows, layered with straw. The fruits of some varieties do not spoil for a long time in a dark place at room temperature.

Pumpkin varieties:
Among the zoned assortment for the Non-Chernozem zone, the following varieties are recommended:

precocious - Altaiskaya 47, XXXXryuchekutskaya 27, Gribovskaya bush 189, Ufimskaya, Medical, Smile, Freckle.

mid-early - Russian, Kroshka.

medium ripe - Donskaya, Hybrid 72, Large-fruited 1, Record, Troyanda, Hutoryanka, Almond 35, Mozoleevskaya 49.

late-ripening - Vitamin, Gribovskaya winter, Winter sweet, Muscat, Winter table 5.

amateur varieties - Pineapple, Honey and others.

Do not rely on "southerners" Although pumpkin is less demanding on heat compared to its relative cucumber, its southern origin makes itself felt. During our short and not always hot summer, and most importantly, because ofcool nights that come after August 10, many foreign, and even southern varieties of pumpkins in the Middle lane do not have time to ripen and gain enough nutrients and healing substances.
Most pumpkin varieties that have proven themselves well somewhere in the Krasnodar Territory, in Rostov, Belgorod or Kursk regions, with rare exceptions, are very mediocre in taste. At the same time, the well-known Gribovskaya Kustovaya and Gribovskaya Zimnyaya and in the south ripen just as well as we have in the Urals. Gribovskaya Zimnyaya is especially successful: it is perfectly preserved for several months innormal room conditions, and over time it becomes tastier and sweeter, as the starch contained in the pulp is converted into sugar.

Medicinal properties pumpkins.

The therapeutic effect when using pumpkin pulp is provided by such essential elements as potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus and vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B12, PP, as well as vitamin K, which is almost absent in other vegetables and fruits. A lack of vitamin K in the body causes bleeding from the nose, gums and, most dangerously, from the internal organs, including the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, pumpkin pulp contains a lot of pectins - water-soluble dietary fibers that enhance the motor functions of the intestines, remove radionuclides from the body and contribute to the rapid scarring of ulcers. The combination of biologically active substances contained in it helps to eliminate cholesterol and improves water and salt metabolism, so it is recommended in any form for diseases of the cardiovascular system, in particular for atherosclerosis and edema caused by heart failure. And with anemia and depletion of the body, it is preferable to eat raw pumpkin pulp, which is rich in iron.

A good effect is observed in the treatment of diseases of the digestive system with this vegetable. With inflammation and cirrhosis of the liver, chronic hepatitis and hepatic edema, along with raw pulp, patients are shown pumpkin porridge with rice, millet or semolina. For colitis accompanied by constipation, as well as vomiting at night, you should drink half a glass of pumpkin juice.

Pumpkin juice and pulp are used as food for the prevention of caries.

With pyelonephritis, acute and chronic cystitis, urate stones, as well as with diabetes and gout are very useful pumpkin porridge. The pumpkin itself is a good diuretic.

For kidney disease and Bladder Medicinal “milk” is prepared from pumpkin and hemp seeds: 1 cup of each seed is ground in a ceramic vessel, gradually adding 3 cups of boiling water, then filtered and squeezed out the remainder. The resulting "milk" is drunk during the day. This remedy is particularly indicated when there is blood in the urine, or when urination is delayed by spasmodic phenomena. If the “milk” gets boring, it can be taken with steep unsalted buckwheat porridge, sweetened with sugar or honey.

To strengthen the muscles of the bladder and normalize its functions, it is recommended to eat 2-3 tablespoons of peeled pumpkin seeds daily. They can also be used as an adjunct in the treatment of prostate disorders.

Due to its low calorie content, pumpkin is very useful for obesity.

Pumpkin juice or raw pulp is used for colds, coughs and tuberculosis. And pumpkin porridge helps to reduce the temperature in bronchitis.

Fresh gruel from pumpkin pulp is applied to the affected areas with eczema and burns, rashes and acne. It also accelerates the maturation of boils and abscesses. People who, due to their profession, have to stand a lot during the day, are recommended to apply pumpkin gruel in the evening to relieve pain in their feet.

With insomnia at night, you can take 1/3 cup of pumpkin broth with honey.

A bowl of pumpkin seeds. Dried seeds are peeled from the hard peel, always leaving a thin green shell, ground in a mortar, adding them in small portions and slowly adding 10-15 drops of water. For 300 g of seeds - up to 50-60 ml of water. To give the porridge a pleasant taste, you can put 10-15 g of honey or jam in it. Take porridge on an empty stomach in a teaspoon for an hour. After 3 hours, you need to take a laxative ( Castor oil not recommended), and then after half an hour to put an enema. Dose for adults - 300 g of seeds, for children 10-12 years old - 150 g, for children 5-7 years old - 100 g, 3-4 years old - 75 g, 2-3 years old - 30-50 g.

Decoction of pumpkin seeds. 250 g of dry unpeeled seeds are heavily crushed. 500 ml of water is added to the crushed seeds and kept for 2 hours on a light fire in a water bath, without bringing the broth to a boil. Then it is squeezed out, cooled for 10 minutes, filtered and the resulting oily film is removed. 10-15 g of honey or jam are added to the broth. Take 1 tablespoon per hour. After 2 hours, they drink a saline laxative. Adults prepare a decoction of 500 g of seeds, children under 10 years old - 300 g, 5-7 years old - 200 g, up to 5 years old - 100-150 g.

Emulsion from pumpkin seeds. 150 g of peeled seeds are ground in a mortar with the gradual addition of 20-30 drops of water, bringing the total volume to 450 ml. To the finished emulsion, you can add 10-15 g of honey or jam. Then drink 1 tablespoon for an hour. After 2 hours, take a saline laxative. Dose for adults - 400-450 ml.

All products are non-toxic, well tolerated and have no contraindications. The course of treatment can be repeated several times with intervals of 2-3 days.

In order for the treatment to be successful, it is necessary to properly prepare for it. On the day before treatment, they eat pureed and liquid food - soups, liquid cereals, vegetable purees, minced meat, jelly, yogurt, and white stale bread. In the evening, a light dinner. At night, you should take a laxative salt: adults - 25-30 g, children - depending on age. The next day, a cleansing enema is given in the morning and any drug from pumpkin seeds is taken on an empty stomach in the above doses. After 2-3 hours, a saline laxative is given - 40-50 g for an adult. Eating is allowed after 1-2 hours.

The gourd family (Cucurbitaceae) is extremely diverse. There are 90 known genera of this family, including about 760 species, most of which are distributed mainly in the tropical regions of the world. Representatives of this family have mainly herbaceous vine-type annual plants, but there are a number of perennial shrub and tree species.

Among the representatives of the gourd family, the greatest national economic importance and wide use have cucumber, watermelon, melon, pumpkin, zucchini and squash. Of lesser practical importance are luffa, or vegetable sponge, gourd, or gourd, chayote, etc. Typical vegetable crops of this family are cucumber, as well as zucchini and squash (" vegetable pumpkins”), the fruits of which are consumed in technical maturity in the form of young ovaries. Watermelon, melon and pumpkin belong to a special group vegetable plants- to gourds.

Cucumber

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) belongs to the genus Cucurbita. It is one of the most widely grown vegetable crops in the world. Cucumber is cultivated in almost all countries of the world. It occupies the largest areas in our country, where in different years it is sown on an area of ​​140-160 thousand hectares. Of the vegetable crops grown in open ground, only cabbage and tomato surpass cucumber in terms of sown area and gross production, the share of which is at the level of 10-12% of the total vegetable crops. However, in terms of yield, it is inferior to the main vegetable crops, and therefore its production is only 5-6% of the total vegetable production in the country. At the same time, it should be noted that cucumber is the main crop in protected ground, which provides about 70% of vegetable production obtained here. Cucumber is cultivated in a wide variety of areas of the country. It has received the greatest distribution in the central regions with favorable meteorological conditions for it: in Ukraine, in the North Caucasus, Volga, Central Black Earth and Central economic regions of the RSFSR, as well as in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova.

Cucumber is one of the most popular vegetable crops. It is important that there is a practical opportunity to obtain fresh cucumber fruits throughout almost the entire year - in the winter-spring period from winter greenhouses, in the spring-summer period from spring greenhouses, greenhouses and small-sized film shelters, in the summer-autumn period from open ground. Cucumber fruits are mainly used fresh. Salted and pickled cucumbers are also of great importance for the nutrition of the population, especially in winter and winter-spring.

Cucumber is an annual herbaceous plant. Its root system consists of a main root up to 1 m long, running shallow, and numerous lateral roots of the first and subsequent orders, located horizontally mainly in the arable soil horizon. The stalk of the cucumber is liana-shaped, branching, reaches a length of 1.5-2 m. after 40-60 cm. Cucumber plants are monoecious (monoycysts), flowers, as a rule, are dioecious (Fig. 15), rarely hermaphroditic.

There are also forms of cucumber with partial dioecy - with a predominant number of female or male flowers (some samples from Japan, China and other regions of the East). This phenomenon is widely used in heterotic cucumber seed production. The cucumber fruit is a false berry (pumpkin) with 3-5 seed chambers (Fig. 16), various shapes, size, pubescence, coloration, pattern and other features. The fruits contain 100-400 seeds. There are also seedless, so-called parthenocarpic forms of cucumber.

At favorable conditions cucumber seeds sprout on the 4-6th day after sowing. Optimum temperature for seed germination 25-35 °C. Normal shoots can be obtained at a temperature not lower than 17-18 ° C. For normal germination of cucumber seeds, the presence of moisture is also necessary. For seeds to swell, 36-42% of their absolutely dry weight is needed, and for germination - 20-25% more. Cucumber seeds during germination are very sensitive to lack of air, while reducing germination energy and germination. This explains the high responsiveness of the cucumber to light and loose soils and the destructive effect of the soil crust on the seeds.

During the germination of cucumber seeds, the root is the first to start growing, then the development of the growth point begins and the stem appears. The root system in the first growing season grows more intensively than the aerial part of the plant. Subsequently, the growth of the aerial parts of plants is enhanced. The first leaf is formed only 5-6 days after germination. 8-10 days after the first leaf, a second one is formed. After the root system has developed sufficiently, leaves and stems begin to grow rapidly. Each new leaf appears after 3-4 days, then every other day, daily, and then two or more leaves a day. The stem also grows slowly at first and then faster, reaching up to 2 cm per day.

After the formation of 4-6 leaves in early ripening varieties, and 6-8 leaves in late-ripening varieties, lateral shoots of the first order are formed on the main stem (lashes), then shoots of the second order are formed on them, and so on, first in the axils of the lower leaves, then in the upper ones . Flowering begins 30-40 days after germination in early-ripening varieties and 50-60 days after germination in late-ripening varieties. The flowers of inflorescences located in the axils of the lower leaves of the main stem bloom first (in early ripening varieties - in the axils of the 2nd-3rd leaf, in late-ripening varieties - in the 7th-12th leaf). Then the first flowers of subsequent inflorescences and the next flowers of the first inflorescence bloom. Flowering constantly spreads from bottom to top and from the main stem to shoots of the first and then subsequent orders.

Cucumber flowers are short-lived - in the northern regions they usually open at 6-7 in the morning, are open for 1-2 days, then close. Unfertilized flowers can keep the corolla fresh for up to 4 days. In the south, during the hot season, they are open only half a day - from 4-5 am to noon. The stigmas of the female flowers are the most susceptible, and the pollen of the male flowers is viable in the first hours after the opening of the flowers, when fertilization usually occurs. Sometimes they are capable of fertilization even before the flowers bloom. Complete pollen is formed at a temperature of about 20-30 °C. When the temperature drops to 14-17°C, the viability of pollen decreases to 25%, and at a temperature of 7-12°C it becomes sterile (Belik, Koziper, 1964, 1967).

Male flowers in plants of monoecious forms of cucumber are usually much larger than female ones, and on various parts plants their ratio is not the same. The further the shoot order is from the base of the stem, the greater the relative number of female flowers. The ratio of flowers also changes under the influence of factors external environment and artificial effects on plants. Decrease in temperature and increase in humidity of air and soil, reduction of daylight hours during the formation of flowers, fumigation carbon monoxide or fertilizing with carbon dioxide, pinching plants, exposing them to acetylene, and other methods help increase the absolute and relative number of female flowers. Unfortunately, the use of these techniques is practically possible only in protected ground. When growing cucumber in open ground, the ratio of cucumber flowers can be influenced by nutritional conditions and changes in the pH of the medium. Enhanced nutrition with phosphorus, potassium, boron and nitrogen restriction enhance the formation of female flowers. The largest number of female flowers is formed in a neutral environment (pH 5.9-6.1).

After fertilization, under normal growing conditions, cucumber ovaries grow rapidly and reach technical (removable) maturity already on the 7-12th day after fertilization (greenery phase). First, the ovaries grow intensively in length, then in thickness. In the future, fruit growth gradually slows down and stops by the beginning of ripening (the period from the green stage to the full ripening of seeds in the fruit, depending on the variety and growing conditions, is 1-1.5 months), the color changes, acidity increases, lignification of the seed coats occurs, in Ultimately, the consumer value of the fruit is lost.

Cucumber is one of the most heat demanding vegetable crops. For normal plant growth, a temperature of 25-27 ° C is required. At temperatures below 15 ° C, plant growth and development are delayed. Prolonged exposure to a temperature of 8-10 °C. can lead to plant death. At 3-4 days of exposure to a temperature of 3-4°C, the plants die. Cucumber plants do not tolerate frost. Cucumber seedlings in the cotyledon phase are most sensitive to cold. When they get stronger and intensive photosynthesis begins in them (in the phase of 1-2 true leaves), their resistance to cold increases significantly. Cucumber blooms at a temperature not lower than 14-16 ° C, and the anthers crack at 16-17 ° C. The optimum temperature for flowering and fertilization of cucumber flowers is 18-21 °C.

Long-term studies of the physiology of the cold resistance of cucumber, carried out at the NIIOKh (Velik et al., 1960-1975), showed that when cucumber plants are exposed to low temperatures, a number of pathological changes occur in them, which are noted even after they are moved to favorable conditions. temperature conditions: there is an increase in the viscosity of protoplasm, a decrease in the hydration of leaf tissues, a change in the content of ascorbic acid in leaves, a decrease in the content of chlorophyll both due to destruction and due to the weakening of its neoplasm, a violation of the nitrogen-phosphorus balance, i.e. there is a violation of the entire metabolism. At the same time, the pathological reaction to cooling of the southern, less cold-resistant varieties is more pronounced than in the northern, more cold-resistant varieties.

Cucumber is one of the most moisture-demanding vegetable crops, which is due to the poor development of the root system, its low suction power, large evaporative surface of plants, high water content and transpiration intensity. With insufficient soil moisture and low relative humidity, cucumber plants grow poorly, develop slowly, the first, most valuable, ovaries fall off, few fruits are formed, they do not reach the normal size and the necessary taste. Along with this, excessive soil moisture, especially in combination with low temperatures, is also harmful to cucumber plants. With excessive moisture, accompanied by a decrease in air in the soil, the growth and activity of the roots, and consequently, the provision of plants with nutrients from the soil, weakens, which negatively affects the growth of above-ground organs and plant productivity.

The optimal soil moisture for cucumber plants in different periods of vegetation is in the range of 70-80% HB, and the relative humidity is 70-80%. Higher soil moisture is needed in the first growing season - before flowering and during intensive fruit growth. At the beginning of mass flowering, a slight decrease in soil moisture is possible, which contributes to more successful completion fertilization process. Naturally, cucumber plants consume the greatest amount of water during the maximum increase in the assimilation surface, the maximum size of plants, which coincides with the period of intensive fruit growth and yield. During this period, frequent watering with small norms is necessary.

High productivity of cucumber plants is possible only with a combination of high humidity air and soil with optimal ambient temperature. At low soil and air temperatures, cucumber plants cannot fully utilize the available moisture, due to the fact that the root system weakly absorbs it under these conditions and its supply cannot cover the moisture consumption of plants. At the same time, cucumber plants wither - the so-called physiological drought sets in.

Cucumber is a light-demanding crop. Although it is more shade-tolerant than a tomato, it actively responds to improved lighting conditions by increasing the yield, which is widely used in protected ground, where additional illumination and light culture of cucumber are used. These plants are short-day or neutral to the length of the day. Most varieties of cucumber, when the day length is reduced to 10-12 hours (by shading in the morning-evening hours, rich in long-wave red rays) for 15-20 days during the seedling period, accelerate their development, intensify and accelerate the formation of female flowers, increase early and general harvest.

Zucchini and patisson

Zucchini and squash belong to the species ordinary, or hard-barked, pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.), being its varieties: zucchini - var. giraumontia Duch., patisson - var. patisson Duch. (Filov, 1960).

Zucchini in the USSR is grown everywhere, but in small areas, and squash is cultivated in very limited quantities. In the southern regions of the country, zucchini is grown for fodder purposes and for industrial canning (both zucchini and squash), and in the central and northern regions - for home cooking and conservation. Use the fruits of zucchini in the form of a 7-12-day ovary as in household, and in the canning industry for the preparation of squash caviar and mashed potatoes, stuffing, canning and fried consumption. Patissons are used in the form of 3-5-day ovaries mainly for pickling and pickling, as well as cucumbers, and 7-10-day ovaries are used in home cooking.

Plants of zucchini and squash are annuals, usually bushy (there are also long-branched ones). The fruits of zucchini are elongated, cylindrical (Fig. 17, 1), sometimes slightly curved. The bark of fruits in the phase of technical maturity is soft, white or green in color, in the phase of physiological maturity it is woody (armored), light yellow, yellow or cream in color. The fruits of patisson are bell-shaped, plate-shaped or round-flat (Fig. 17, 2), white or yellow in color, without a pattern or with a pattern in the form of green stripes and spots.

Squash and especially zucchini are early crops. Under favorable conditions, their seedlings appear on the 6-7th day after sowing. Approximately one month after the emergence of seedlings, flowering begins, and after another 7-12 days, marketable fruits are formed. In the most common varieties of zucchini, from mass shoots to technical (table) fruit maturity, 40-60 days pass, and to physiological - 100-120 days, for squash - 45-85 and 100-120 days, respectively.

Zucchini and patisson are heat-demanding crops, but the former is more resistant to cold. Zucchini seeds begin to germinate at 8-9.5°C, and patisson seeds - at a temperature of 13-14°C. The optimum temperature for seed germination and subsequent plant growth of both crops is 25-27 °C, the minimum temperature is 12-15 °C. These crops do not tolerate frost. Zucchini plants can tolerate short-term temperature drops down to 6-10 °C.

The plants of these crops are quite resistant to drought, but watering usually helps to increase the yield, especially the squash, which is more demanding on water than zucchini. Both crops are demanding in terms of light, as well as fertility, especially the presence of organic matter in the soil.

Material from the Uncyclopedia

Vegetable crops are herbaceous plants grown for heads, roots, bulbs, leaves, fruits. 120 species of vegetable plants are cultivated. The most common of them belong to 10 families: cruciferous - cabbage, swede, turnip, radish, radish, horseradish, watercress; umbrella-carrots, parsley, parsnips, celery, dill; pumpkin - cucumber, pumpkin, melon, watermelon; nightshade - tomato, pepper, eggplant, physalis; legumes - peas, beans, beans; lilies - onions, garlic, asparagus; Compositae - lettuce, chicory, artichoke, tarragon; haze - beets, spinach; buckwheat - rhubarb, sorrel; cereals - corn.

There are annual, biennial and perennial vegetable crops.

Annuals complete their life cycle (from seed to seed) in one year. Among them are plants of the nightshade, legume and pumpkin families, as well as radishes, dill, lettuce, spinach, Beijing and cauliflower.

Biennials in the first year of life form vegetative organs - bulbs, root crops, heads of cabbage, etc., and in the second - seeds. These include: onions and leeks, garlic, root crops (except radish), cabbage (except cauliflower and Peking), artichoke. By winter, they lose their leaves, and often their roots, retaining only organs in which nutrients are stored.

Perennial vegetable plants are rhubarb, sorrel, asparagus, horseradish, tarragon, batun, chives, multi-tiered onions. In autumn, the entire aerial part dies off, and the roots in which reserves are deposited nutrients, are stored until the spring of next year.

Every year in the spring, these plants resume their growth.

Vegetables are the main source of vitamins, they contain important nutrients: proteins, fats and carbohydrates. But due to the high water content (70-95%), they are low in calories. The taste and pleasant smell of vegetables depend on various combinations of sugars, organic acids, aromatic and minerals. The sugar in vegetables is fermented during fermentation and salting, forming lactic acid, which protects them from rotting. In dill, parsley, garlic, onion, radish, horseradish, there are a lot of phytoncides - substances with bactericidal properties. Mineral salts contained in vegetables enhance the physiological processes in the human body. The Institute of Nutrition of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR established the average annual consumption of vegetables - 122 kg per person.

Soviet breeders have created over 700 varieties and hybrids of vegetable crops, which are zoned in various climatic zones countries.

The homeland of most vegetable crops is the country of warm, tropical and subtropical climate. Therefore, many of them are thermophilic, demanding on soil moisture. But some species are cold-resistant, which makes it possible to grow them in the north, in the central regions and in winter in subtropical regions. Seeds of some during winter sowing begin to germinate already under the snow at a temperature of about 0 °, and others - at a temperature not lower than 13-14 °. Some plants tolerate hot and dry weather well, and in the case of wet, rainy weather, they die, while others, on the contrary, do not tolerate heat.

All this indicates a great diversity biological features vegetable crops. Therefore, in order to obtain a high and high-quality crop of vegetables, it is necessary to create a set of conditions that meet the needs of vegetable plants.

The best time for tillage is autumn. It is necessary to clear the soil from the rhizomes of perennial weeds, the larvae of the May beetle. Careful and deep (on a full bayonet of a shovel) processing allows moisture to easily penetrate into the soil and accumulate in it. In spring, it is enough to dig up the soil by 15-20 cm. Ridges or ridges should be arranged in low, damp places.

Vegetable crops respond very well to fertilizers, especially on podzolic and gray forest soils. The most common organic fertilizers- manure (preferably rotted), fecal matter, peat, bird droppings. Horse manure is applied at the rate of 6-12 kg per 1 m, cattle manure - 7-14 kg, slurry - 10-20 kg, feces - 4-8 kg, peat - 10-20 kg, rotted leaves - 10- 20 kg. Feces are used only in a mixture with fine peat and rotted.

When making mineral fertilizers not only increases the yield, but also improves the quality of products, accelerates the ripening of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, early cabbage. Valuable potash wood ash fertilizer. Here are the average application rates for mineral fertilizers: wood ash - 200-500 g per 1 m, ammonium sulfate - 20-30 g, ammonium nitrate - 12-15 g, phosphate rock - 180-200 g, superphosphate - 40-80 g , potassium salt - 40-60 g. Lime is applied on acidic soils every 4-6 years.

The same vegetable crops should not be grown all the time in the same place - this increases the risk of pests and diseases. It should be noted that good predecessors for cabbage are all legumes, potatoes, tomatoes; root crops - potatoes and cabbage; cucumbers, onions, legumes - cabbage, potatoes, root vegetables, tomatoes; green vegetables (parsley, celery, etc.) - cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers.

Sow vegetable plants in autumn, spring and summer. In autumn, 3-5 days before the onset of frost, it is recommended to sow carrots, parsley, parsnips, dill, and garlic 10-15 days before. Seeds sown in autumn should not germinate. In the spring, vegetables begin to sow as early as possible. Immediately after soil preparation, the seeds of onions, radishes, radishes, spinach, lettuce, turnips, peas, carrots, parsley, beets are sown in the soil, and later than all beans and cucumbers. The depth of planting seeds depends on their size, soil conditions, the needs of plants in moisture and heat. But they should not be buried very deeply. Small seeds (turnips, carrots) are best covered by 1-2 cm; medium (beets, cucumbers) - 2-3 cm, large (beans, beans) - 3-5 cm. Small seeds are sown in shallow grooves. They should not be sown thickly.

Many vegetable crops (cabbage, rutabaga, tomatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumbers, beets, celery, leeks, turnip onions, asparagus, rhubarb, etc.) can be grown from seedlings.

Plant care begins even before germination. If the soil has compacted and a crust has formed, it is loosened with a harrow or hoe. In the spring, autumn and early crops are harrowed, row-spacing is cultivated to control weeds, they are weeded out in rows and near plants, plants are protected from pests and diseases, plants are hilled and thinned, pinning is carried out (stopping plant growth by removing their tops), mulching the soil (covering its sawdust, straw cutting, mulch paper and other materials). Particularly responsive to soil mulching are cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and seed plants of vegetable plants. Plant nutrition is of great importance.

The average irrigation rate on sandy and sandy loamy soils is 10-12 liters per 1 m2 in 2-3 days, and on humus loamy soils - 20-30 liters in 5 days. The need of plants for watering is determined by the degree of soil moisture and the condition of the plants.

The timing of harvesting vegetable crops depends on their purpose. So, early vegetables (lettuce, spinach, dill, green onions, sorrel, radish, early cabbage and cauliflower) are harvested as they ripen: lettuce and spinach at the stage of 5-6 leaves; dill at a plant height of 10-40 cm; sorrel, green onion during the period of the greatest development of green mass. Cauliflower is harvested selectively. Picking cucumbers and tomatoes begins as they ripen from mid-summer. The harvest of late vegetables (cabbage, root crops) is harvested in the fall (see Harvest and storage).

The Cucurbitaceae family is very extensive. Its representatives live in both the Old and the New World and do not refuse either the humid tropics and subtropics, or deserts - it would be warm! Pumpkins have large seeds, grow rapidly at a young age, and in adulthood they reach impressive sizes.

Cucumber

India and China are recognized as the birthplace of this wonderful vegetable, but Russian gardeners have long brought it far to the north and created varieties that are phenomenal in terms of early maturity and cold resistance. In the southern gardens, the cucumber is inferior in area only to the tomato, and in the northern beds it loses only to cabbage. Local Russian varieties have long been bred in almost every province throughout the vast country (with the exception of the Far North). The nationwide love for a modest and "frivolous" product seems surprising. Moreover, cucumbers contain about 96% water (although, according to the catchphrase of the founder of the vegetable growing department of the Moscow Agricultural Academy, V. I. Edelstein, “this water is not tap water ...”). But the craving for fresh cucumbers is not at all accidental - their juice is rich in physiologically active substances. In addition to mineral salts, including the most important trace elements, it contains vitamins and enzymes that promote their absorption.

For thousands of years, cucumber has been used both in medicine and in cosmetology. Fresh fruits are known for their pronounced diuretic effect, as well as a laxative and antipyretic. The alkaline reaction of the pulp makes it an indispensable product for people suffering from high acidity of gastric juice. In addition, the fiber in the fruit is not coarse, it does not injure gastrointestinal tract but only contributes to its purification.

Variety selection

Finding the “right” cucumber variety or hybrid is not an easy task. On the one hand, there are plenty to choose from: state register there are almost 2000 registered breeding achievements! But there is another side of the coin: with such a multitude, it is not surprising to get confused in search of what is necessary for specific conditions. Therefore, we will try to divide the selection process into 6 steps (in this case, we will talk about growing for the needs of the family).

Step 1: in a salad or in pickling? According to their purpose, varieties and hybrids of cucumber are divided into salad, pickling, suitable for canning and universal. The most popular pickling and universal varieties. It's hard to argue with lovers of classic pickles, but it's a pity that we grow few real ones. salad varieties. After all, the most healthy cucumber- fresh, and of them, the one that is more tender and juicy is better, and these qualities are poorly combined with the strength necessary for canning raw materials. Universality in this case is conditional, for the sake of it you have to sacrifice something. So wouldn't it be better to use special varieties? In a salad, for example, - Zozulya, put small be healthy on the table, salt in a tub of Teremok, and close in jars Hit of the season?

Step 2: inside view. The taste of fresh cucumber depends on many reasons. Here and chemical composition(content essential oils salts, sugars, acids). The consistency of the pulp and the stiffness of the skin also play a role. It should be noted that the cucumber fruits of modern high-quality hybrids do not bitter under any circumstances, but old pickling varieties have bitterness, which disappears during the fermentation process. So it makes no sense to put up with this drawback in lettuce cucumbers - it’s easier to immediately choose the right hybrid.

If you choose cucumbers for pickling, look for descriptions of strong fruits without voids and with dense pulp.

Step 3: relation to light. Having dealt with what kind of greens and gherkins we need, let's pay attention to the properties of the plants themselves. Let's start with the fact that the cucumber is "winter" and "summer". The word “winter” in this case has nothing to do with the ability to endure frost (it didn’t exist, and it doesn’t exist), and even in terms of resistance to cold weather, winter hybrids (varieties) are inferior to summer ones (it would seem a paradox). But they are shade-tolerant, able to bear fruit in rather poor lighting. This moment is relevant for those who grow cucumbers in shaded beds or on balconies.

Step 4: gender issues. It is very important whether the plant can produce fruit without pollination or not. Parthenocarpy is necessary in cases where there is no one to “work as bees” or there is not enough pollen (for example, there are few or no male flowers at all). Plants of bee-pollinated cucumber have their own tastes - under certain conditions they show high productivity: the pollinated ovary has an increased competitive ability in the struggle for nutrients. By the way, a fruit with developing seeds always contains more biologically active substances compared to a parthenocarpic cucumber.

Step 5: a bouquet of fruits. The number and arrangement of female flowers also matters. In those cases when they grow in the axils of the leaves in bunches of 3-7 pieces or more, we get a lot of medium-sized fruits. If the plant simultaneously forms only 1-2 ovaries, then they receive “enhanced nutrition” and can very quickly turn from undergrowths into overgrowths (in these cases, you have to harvest every other day).

Step 6: attention to the bushes. For those who care for plantings, the nature of plant branching is of great importance. Is it important for you to spend less time on shaping? Look for hybrids that are characterized by weak branching - usually their main stem is more loaded with fruits (until the plants "unload" from them, side shoots almost do not grow). After harvesting the first wave of the crop, some varieties of this type form normal ones, while others (Alphabet) have short shoots ending in flowers, and then the cucumbers are again compactly located along the main stem. The longer the season, the more such waves of fruiting can be.

However, the longer the summer lasts, the more pests and pathogens accumulate on plants. And then plants with strong lateral shoots and a large leaf surface show great viability - it is they who bear fruit until frost in the open field and until a short day in October in a greenhouse. Of the domestic hybrids of this type, the following can be mentioned: Maryina Grove, Chistye Prudy, Secret of the Firm; from imported ones: German, Meringue and others.

How to get a harvest?

Cucumber is grown both in open ground and in greenhouses, greenhouses, tunnels, under temporary frame shelters and simply in furrows covered with non-woven material.

The soil for cucumbers is prepared so that it is loose, nutritious, with a reaction close to neutral, free from weeds, pests, so that there is no threat of stagnant water. The crop is responsive to organic fertilizers that improve soil structure and contain growth-stimulating substances.

If there is a need for an early harvest, it makes sense to grow cucumber through seedlings. When planting fairly mature plants with 3-4 true leaves, the gain in time will be maximum. For the rest, the seedlings are treated like this: if the weather is already warm and the conditions at the planting site already meet the needs of young plants, they can be planted with the first true leaf. In all cases, when sowing seedlings, we can keep the process under control: at a temperature of 25-27 °C, at least 90% of good seeds will sprout already on the 3rd-4th day. True, for this, the seeds must be carefully sown horizontally, planted to the same depth of 1-1.5 cm and evenly heated.

If sowing is carried out immediately on permanent place, then they start it when the soil warms up to at least 16 ° C. At the same time, one must be prepared for the fact that seedlings will appear only on the 6-10th day and may be unfriendly.

Planting density depends on varietal characteristics ( small leaves or large, weakly growing side shoots or they are powerful), on the place of cultivation (in a greenhouse or open field) and on how long we are going to keep the plants (the longer, the more space they need to be given). On average, 2.5 vigorous plants or 3.5 weakly branching plants in a greenhouse and 3-4.5 in open ground are obtained per 1 m2.

Most convenient way placement - two-line tapes. 40-50 cm are left between rows in the tape so that an irrigation pipe or a furrow for irrigation or a strip of black nonwoven fabric. Between the ribbons (pairs of rows), wide row-spacings are left - 110-120 cm, and in a row between plants - 20-30 cm. wires fixed 50 cm apart along the beds.

When grown in open ground, the shaping is carried out according to the "minimum program" - pinching the tops at the beginning of the growth of the ovaries to speed up the process, and side shoots, if there is a real threat of thickening. It is possible to do without surgical intervention at all, when growth is limited by the generous sun for heat and light and actively growing fruits.

In the greenhouse, cucumber plants must be tied up so that they use its volume. Remove flowers and shoots from the axils of the lower leaves so that they do not interfere with air circulation and do not provoke the development of rot. In the future, several lateral shoots are pinched on one leaf and the fruit (or fruits, if they grow in a bunch), even higher - on two fruits, so that the leaves do not block each other's light. If the top grows to the trellis, it is thrown over it and two or three internodes are placed on the wire.

For maximum yield, fruits should be harvested every other day in hot weather and twice a week in cool weather. Weekend-only gardeners have to achieve growth containment with ventilation (sometimes you can leave greenhouses open all week), moderate watering, and reduced nitrogen fertilization. The harvest will be less, but you will not have to worry about overgrowths that have not found application.

Zucchini and company

Zucchini, like all vegetables discovered along with America, first came to the Mediterranean and spread across the continent in subsequent centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Russia got acquainted with white-fruited zucchini, which were grown in Greece, in connection with which they first received the name "Greek". At the age of 7-10 days after pollination, white-fruited zucchini have a delicate skin and good taste, they can be fried, stewed or cooked in another way without peeling, but after a week the skin begins to turn into a bark, which is difficult to even pierce with a knife, let alone peel. These classic zucchini keep just as well after ripening as their sister squash.

In the twentieth century, amazing multi-colored zucchini, bred in Italy, were brought to our country, where they are called "pumpkins" - "zucchini". They differ in powerful indented leaves with inclusions of whitish air-bearing tissue (like a watermelon), but the main thing is that the yellow, green, dark green, striped or speckled skin of the fruit does not become woody: a two-week mini-zucchini and a two-kilogram "boar" are subject to the knife with mature seeds. The latter can be safely cleaned even months after harvesting, so if you have a lot to do at the end of the season, you can postpone the preparation of zucchini caviar to a later date.

Patisson has fruits resembling a disk with rounded edges (or a flying saucer, it was not for nothing that a variety called UFO appeared), and a dense crispy pulp. The skin of most varieties hardens when ripe, like "Greek" zucchini.

Crookneck fruits look like zucchini, curved at the stalk - not without reason they got their apt name (translated from English, it means "crooked neck"). In the company of vegetable varieties of hard-skinned pumpkin, they have the most nutritious and dietary valuable pulp, but they are more thermophilic and demanding on growing conditions compared to zucchini and squash, and therefore are inferior to them in popularity. In addition, domestic varieties have not yet been registered.

Pumpkin

In reference books, especially old ones, pumpkin can not be found among vegetable crops: it, like melon with watermelon, was singled out in a separate category - “melons”. American pumpkins, hard-skinned and large-fruited, have been grown in Russia for more than 400 years. Pumpkins have a powerful root system, which allows them to absorb water from great depths (up to 2 meters or more) and supply large leaves, which is very important in the south. At the same time, they are quite cold-resistant, thanks to which they have moved north, including the Non-Black Earth region. “Fatties” show their taste qualities only in biological ripeness, and it takes a long time to wait for it: about 120 days from germination, even for early varieties. However, pumpkins have a remarkable property: they ripen for another 2-3 months after they are harvested, and during this time, as the starch is broken down and turned into sugars, they become sweeter. And after that they may not lose their qualities for several more months, almost until spring. For storage and ripening they are removed to a cool, but not cold room, not without reason their traditional place in a peasant's hut is under a bed or a bench.

When sown with seeds in open ground, pumpkins north of Voronezh do not ripen every year, so it is better to sow under cover, in large holes fertilized with manure, or plant seedlings. Plants take up a lot of space: bush plants need at least 1 m2, climbing plants - up to 4 m2. To obtain seedlings, the seeds are sown no earlier than 20-25 days before planting in liter pots with a nutrient mixture, taking into account the fact that the “babies” are large (and grow like a fabulous hero, “by leaps and bounds”). Seeds are planted to a depth of 2-3 cm; closer to the surface, seedlings do not shed their hard seed coat and are strongly elongated. The temperature before germination is maintained at the level of 23-25 °C, after the full emergence of shoots, it is reduced to 17-20 during the day and 14-15 at night. Seedlings like everyone else thermophilic crops, planted with the expectation that it does not fall under frost.

Care consists of periodic loosening, abundant watering in the first half of summer, fertilizing (if the pumpkin does not “sit” on the compost heap, where there is enough food) and pinching the whip to speed up the ripening of the fruit that has set (where the summer is short).

exotic

Acquaintance with momordica, melotria, anguria, lagenaria and chayote is more informative than practical for the inhabitants of the middle zone. But in the Krasnodar Territory, they feel great and find admirers. In Sochi, they showed me lagenaria, a pumpkin "with a waist" - a gourd, from which you can make a jug. Chayote was planted in a film greenhouse at the Adler Station of the Research Institute of Vegetable Growing. One plant was enough to form a huge light green umbrella by the middle of summer, under which several people could hide from the unbearable heat (the lashes of the “Mexican cucumber” are such that if they are not pinched in time, they will grow up to 8 meters). Numerous chayote fruits are white-greenish in color and resemble quince in shape. The pulp is dense: to prepare a salad, it had to be planed on a grater.

This family includes 130 genera and about 900 species, growing mainly in tropical and subtropical regions from tropical rainforests to deserts. Africa is especially rich in wild-growing pumpkins, as well as Asia and America. In temperate latitudes, there are relatively few representatives of this family. Pumpkin annuals or perennials, climbing or creeping herbs, rarely shrubs, with alternate, palmately or pinnately lobed (rarely separate) or simple leaves. Most members of the family are equipped with antennae, which are modified shoots.

Flowers are usually unisexual, unisexual or dioecious, rarely bisexual, actinomorphic, solitary or collected in axillary inflorescences - bunches, brushes, panicles, umbrellas. The perianth, together with the base of the filaments, forms a flower tube attached to the ovary; cup is five-lobed. Corolla sympetalous, five-lobed or five-parted (up to dissected), yellow or white, rarely greenish or red. Stamens 2-3-5, very rarely 2, more often 5, of which usually 4 are fused in pairs; sometimes all filaments or anthers of all stamens grow together. The gynoecium consists of 3, rarely 5 or 4 carpels; ovary inferior (sometimes semi-inferior), often three-celled, with numerous ovules in each nest; column with thickened fleshy stigmas.

Academician N. Vavilov recalled that he saw in the desert of Jericho on the shores of the Dead Sea the original cucumbers of the prophets - "gooseberry pumpkin". Their fruits are the size of a small plum, covered with thorns, edible and taste like lightly salted cucumbers: a little salty.

Cucurbitaceae are mostly insect pollinated plants. Large, well-developed nectaries, filled with very sweet nectar, have such a structure that they are accessible to everyone. Therefore, the flowers of gourds are visited by about 150 species of insects. The flowers of many species do not have a strong aroma and lure pollinators either with large bright yellow corollas (like those of a pumpkin, watermelon, cucumber, etc.), or their petals have the ability to reflect ultraviolet rays invisible to our eyes. The main pollinators of gourds are bees (especially honey bees) and steppe ants, as well as wasps and bumblebees. Insects visit male flowers more often, as pollen serves as an excellent food for insects; found more than a hundred useful substances, including proteins, fats and many vitamins. In the vast majority of representatives of the family, the fruits are similar in structure to a berry, but very peculiar, called "pumpkin". Pumpkin, watermelon, melon and cucumber are classic examples of this type of fruit. In pumpkins, sometimes some of the most ripe and viable seeds germinate inside the fruit. As a result, when an overripe fruit cracks, not only seeds fall out of it, but also fully developed seedlings, the roots of which quickly penetrate into loose soil and take root. The most modern classification of the gourd family belongs to the English botanist C. Jeffrey (1980). According to this classification, the family is divided into two subfamilies and 8 tribes.

Pumpkin flower. Photo: Christoslilu

Pumpkin. Photo: Maja Dumat

There are almost no trees in the gourd family. Only one. Since all sorts of botanical rarities are usually found on oceanic islands, the cucumber tree also grows on the island. Socotra's island Indian Ocean. Dendrositsios, as the tree is called, is perhaps the furthest from its liana-like ancestors of all gourds. Its seven-meter trunk is not flexible and thin, but swollen: like a cabinet. It is soft and full of water, like a baobab. There is something elephantine in this tree, and it is juicy, like all pumpkin trees. There are absolutely no side branches. Only at the top the trunk suddenly branches into two or three branches. Those, in turn, branch many times. It looks like a lush bush. And only cucumber leaves, rough, rough, with thorns along the edges. And flowers like cucumbers, only collected in large clusters.

Adapting to the difficult conditions of the desert, gourds have developed an original defense. From Africa to India, you can find colocynth - bitter gourd or bitter watermelon, with a completely inedible pulp, tough, dry or bitter. Seeds do not germinate in the light. And not because the light is harmful to them. The reason is more subtle. If the seeds germinated openly, in the light, the rays of the sun would incinerate the tender shoots. If the seed is in the dark, it means that it has fallen into the depths of the soil. Until it breaks through to the light, it will have time to strengthen the spine. Such a shoot will not die.

Large subfamily Cucurbitaceae (Gucurbitoideae) contains 7 tribes, including 110 genera. One of the most primitive representatives of the gourd subfamily is the genus Telfairia (Telfairia), belonging to the tribe Joliffieae. The same tribe includes the genera Momordica and Tladiantha. The paleotropical genus of momordica includes about 45 species, most of which are annual climbing vines with a thin stem and long-leaved leaves, cultivated in the tropical countries of Asia. In the genus Tladianta, there are about 15 species that grow in East and Southeast Asia.

To another tribe (benincasae tribe - Benincaseae) include genera acanthosicyos (Acanthosicyos, 2 species), squirting cucumber(Ecballium. monotypic genus), watermelon (Citrullus) and others. Akanthositsios is a typical desert plant with tendrils turned into spines and a thick, sometimes very long root. Of the other genera of the same tribe, watermelon (Citrullus) must be mentioned first of all. These are annual or perennial pubescent creeping herbs with dissected leaves. The flowers are large, solitary, unisexual or bisexual; sepals and their petals grow together at the base. Corolla yellow, stamens 5. Stigma three-lobed, ovary three-celled. The fruit is a multi-seeded juicy pumpkin with flat seeds. Watermelon is common in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The genus includes 3 species: edible watermelon, colocynth, whiskerless watermelon, the range of which is limited to the Namib Desert region in Southwest Africa. The tendrils of this plant are completely reduced. The same tribe, in addition to watermelon, includes the genera Bryonia, Lagenaria, or gourd (Lagenaria), Benincasa and some others. The genus step includes 12 species growing in the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, Europe, the Front and Central Asia. These climbing perennial tall plants can be found in the Caucasus and Central Asia among shrubs, on forest edges, in ravines, and also as weeds near hedges and walls. The antennae of the feet have a particularly fine sensitivity to the touch of solid objects, which causes them to grow very rapidly and bend towards the stimulus. In a relatively short period of time, the tendrils tightly wrap around the support, reliably holding the weight of the heavy mass of the plant. Small inconspicuous flowers of the step, collected in sparse inflorescences, almost do not stand out against the background of the leaves and smell very weakly, however, insects willingly visit them, attracted by the ultraviolet pattern of the corolla, invisible to our eyes. In the pumpkin family, only representatives of this genus have a fruit that is a real berry. Numerous small seeds of the footstep are covered with strong and strong armor. The embryo of the seed that has passed through the bird's digestive tract remains intact and capable of germination. Overripe berries of the footstep are crushed at the slightest touch, and the seeds are glued with mucus to the skin of the animal that touched them, thus spreading too. Some species of the genus are poisonous plants, some are used in a number of countries as medicinal. Berries and roots containing glycosides brionin and brionidine are especially poisonous.

To the gourd tribe (Cucurbiteae) includes 12 genera, including the pumpkin genus, which has about 20 species that grow wild exclusively in America. Some of them have long been introduced into culture. To date, there are a huge number of varieties of food, fodder and ornamental pumpkins. Representatives of the genus are perennial or annual herbaceous plants with a rounded or faceted stem, often prostrate, sometimes climbing. The Luffa genus occupies a somewhat isolated position in the gourd tribe, having much in common with the next cyclanther tribe. There are 5 species in the genus.

To the cyclanther tribe (Cyclanthereae) includes 12 genera, growing mainly in the tropical and subtropical zone. In all representatives of these genera, the stamen filaments are fused, the fruits are prickly, often opening. An example is the large American genus Echinocystis, which unites about 15 species, with white small monoecious flowers. Another interesting genus of the tribe is cyclantera, which includes about 15 species. All of them grow in Central and tropical South America. These are herbaceous climbing plants with pubescent stems and five-seven-lobed leaves. Yellow, green or white flowers without nectaries. therefore, plants are pollinated mainly by the wind. Ripe fruits are suddenly opened by two valves, each of which is folded back with force. As a result, the seeds are scattered over quite considerable distances. The Sicyosovye tribe (Sicyoeae) is characterized by female flowers with a single-celled, less often three-celled ovary; stamens of male flowers fused, with sinuous anthers. To the tribe belong 6 genera, of which the most interesting are Sitsios (Sicyos) and Chayote (Sechium). The genus Sitsios includes about 15 species that grow in the Hawaiian Islands, Polynesia, Australia and tropical America. Most of them are vine-like annual herbs with alternate, slightly lobed or angular thin leaves. The genus Schizopepone (Schizopepon), which forms a separate tribe of Schizopeponeae (Schizopeponae), has only 5 species, is distributed from North India to East Asia.

To the Trichosanth tribe (Trichosaiitheae) includes 10 genera. All are characterized by long tubular flowers with fringed or entire petals. The fruits are cylindrical or trihedral, often non-opening or opening into three equal parts. The most famous is the genus Trichosanpes, which includes about 15 species distributed in Southeast Asia and Australia. The morphological structure of these plants is common for most gourds - a liana-like appearance, wide lobed leaves, unisexual flowers; men's are collected in a rare brush, and women's are single. Often the petals are spirally bent inward, which is why the long-tubular flowers take on several unusual view. Unripe fruits are edible, so some of these species are introduced into the culture. In addition, mature fruits are often very showy, which, together with the abundant lush greenery of the leaves, makes the plants very decorative. Also interesting is the monotypic Indo-Malaysian genus Hodgson, close to Trichosanthes.

To the tribe Melotriae (Melothrieae) 34 genera belong, including the genus cucumber, represented by more than 25 species, distributed mainly in Africa. Only a few species are found in Asia. A number of species are cultivated as food plants for their edible fruits. Other interesting genera of the tribe include corallocarpus, melotria, and kedrostis. The genus kedrostis (about 35 species) is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Madagascar, tropical Asia and Malesia. In the steppes of South Africa, one can often find liana-like, densely pubescent, gray-green, herbaceous plants belonging to the genus Kedrostis creeping along the ground.

Subfamily Zanonievye (Zanonioideae) includes 18 genera, which are combined into one tribe. Most of the plants of this subfamily live in countries of the tropical and subtropical belt. The monotypic Iido-Malaysian genus Zanonia characterizes the entire subfamily most fully. Its flowers are dioecious with a two-three-celled ovary; the fruits are hairy club-shaped boxes, opening with a lid when ripe, scattering light winged oblate seeds that are spread by the wind over long distances. The actinostemma genus, numbering about 6 species, is distributed in East Asia and the Himalayas. All of them are perennial herbaceous vines with climbing stems. One of the species is found within Russia.