Chinese bitter gourd (momordica charantia, bitter cucumber)

cassabanana (scented sicana, musky cucumber, fragrant pumpkin)

gourd (common lagenaria, calabash, calabash, calabash, bottle gourd, table gourd)

melotria rough (mouse watermelon, mouse melon, Mexican sour cucumber, Mexican miniature watermelon, sour gherkin)

What is in pumpkin vegetables:

Vegetable	calorie content	Carbohydrates, proteins, fats	vitamins	Minerals	Additionally
Cucumber	14 kcal	Proteins - 0.8 g, fats - 0.1 g, carbohydrates - 2.5 g.	Carotene, vitamins PP, C and group B, K, choline, biotin	A wide range of macro- and microelements (magnesium, sodium, calcium, copper, selenium, phosphorus, chlorine, iodine, manganese, zinc, iron, cobalt, aluminum, chromium, molybdenum). Especially a lot of potassium.	Contains 95-97% water. There are few nutrients (up to 5%), of which half are sugars. The glycoside cucurbitacin gives cucumbers a bitter taste. Dietary fiber - 1 g.
Pumpkin	22 kcal	Fats - 0.1 g Proteins - 1 g Carbohydrates - 4.4 g	Vitamins C (8 mg /%), B1, B2, B5, E, PP, carotene - 5-12 mg per 100 g of wet weight (more than in carrots), nicotinic acid, folic acid,	Copper, cobalt, zinc, salts of potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron.	The fruit pulp contains sugars (from 3 to 15%), starch (15-20%), dietary fiber 2 g. From sugars - glucose, fructose, sucrose.
vegetable marrow	27 kcal	Fats - 0.3 g Proteins - 0.6 g Carbohydrates - 4.6 g	Vitamins (mg%): C - 15, PP - 0.6, B1 and B2 - 0.03 each, B6 - 0.11, carotene - 0.03. In terms of carotene content, yellow-fruited varieties of zucchini surpass even carrots.	Rich in potassium - 240 mg%, iron - 0.4 mg%. Contains sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium.	Organic acids - 0.1 g. Dietary fiber 1 g.
Squash	19.4 kcal	Proteins - 0.6 g. Fats - 0.1 g. Carbohydrates - 4.3 g.	Vitamins PP, B1, B2, C.	Potassium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, calcium, iron.	Dietary fiber - 1.32 g.
Watermelon	32 kcal	Carbohydrates 5.8 g. Fats - 0.1 g. Proteins - 0.6 g.	Vitamins - thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, carotene - 0.1-0.7 mg /%, ascorbic acid - 0.7-20 mg /%, B6, PP, C, biotin, folic acid.	Calcium - 14 mg /%, magnesium - 224 mg /%, sodium - 16 mg /%, potassium - 64 mg /%, phosphorus - 7 mg /%, iron in organic form - 1 mg /%;	The pulp contains 5.5 - 13% of easily digestible sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose). By the time of ripening, glucose and fructose predominate, sucrose accumulates during the storage of watermelon. Acids - 0.1 g (citric, malic). Dietary fiber - 0.4 g.
Melon	35 kcal	Proteins - 0.6 g. Fats - 0.3 g. Carbohydrates - 7.4 g.	Vitamins C (5-29 mg%), PP, groups B, E, carotene, P, folic acid.	Iron, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, cobalt, sulfur, copper, phosphorus, chlorine, iodine, zinc, fluorine

A bit of botany

Pumpkin vegetables belong to the flowering plant family of the same name, which is represented by annual or perennial herbs that overwinter with the help of root tubers or the lower parts of the stem; rarely shrubs and subshrubs.

Plants of the gourd family are characterized by stems creeping along the ground with tendrils clinging to a support or landscape elements, hard or hairy petiolate simple leaves, single axillary or flowers collected in an inflorescence, and pumpkin fruit.

Pumpkin - a fruit characteristic of this family of plants - a berry-like multi-seeded fruit with a usually hard outer layer, a fleshy middle and a juicy inner. The outer layer of pumpkin is not always woody, as in cucumber and melon it is fleshy.

Pumpkin differs from berries in a large number of seeds and the structure of the pericarp, this type of fruit is formed only from the lower ovary and includes three carpels. Pumpkin in some plants reaches a very impressive size.

Vegetable gourd plants belong to several botanical genera gourd family:

1. Genus Pumpkin.
   • - an annual herbaceous plant with large smooth oval or spherical fleshy pumpkin fruits, covered with a hard crust and containing numerous seeds. Pumpkin keeps well.
   • - bush variety of pumpkin ordinary with cylindrical or oblong fruits of green, yellow, cream, black or white color. The surface of the fruit is smooth, warty or ribbed. The most delicious young fruits of 7-10-day ovary with uncoarse seeds. Zucchini is one of the most common varieties of zucchini.
   • - a kind of pumpkin ordinary, an annual herbaceous plant, cultivated everywhere. The fruits of the plant are plate-shaped or bell-shaped with serrated edges; yellow, white, green, orange. For food, young fruits are used, 5-7-day-old ovaries with dense pulp and uncoarse seeds.
   The fruits of pumpkin, zucchini and patisson are usually eaten after heat treatment: stewed, boiled, fried, baked. Pumpkin is used to make puree for baby food; from zucchini and pumpkin - caviar. Squash and zucchini canned and pickled.
2. Rod Cucumber.
   • has a juicy multi-seeded, green color, usually with pronounced pimples fruit. Cucumber fruits of 5-7 day old ovary with underdeveloped seeds are used for food. As it matures, the skin becomes rougher, the seeds hard, and the flesh tasteless. Cucumber is usually eaten raw, added to salads, canned, salted, pickled.
   • - gourds, in our understanding, rather a fruit than a vegetable. The fruit of the melon has a spherical or elongated shape, green, yellow, brownish or white in color. The weight of the melon fruit reaches 10 kg. Ripe fruits are used for food, it takes 2-6 months for a melon to ripen. Melon contains up to 18% sugars. Melon is often eaten raw, candied fruits are also made from it, dried.
   • - a cultivated plant of the American Indians, growing in the tropics and subtropics. It has small (up to 8 cm long, 4 cm in diameter, weight 30-50 grams) cylindrical fruits covered with fleshy soft spikes. Young green fruits are similar in taste to a regular cucumber. Ripe yellow-orange fruits are not edible.
   • - herbaceous vine, cultivated in America, New Zealand, Israel. The fruits look like a small oval melon with soft sparse spikes. Fruit weight up to 200 grams. Ripe fruits are yellow, orange or red, the pulp is green jelly-like with numerous light green seeds up to 1 cm long, the peel is hard and inedible. The taste of kiwano is reminiscent of banana and cucumber. Eat fresh, add to milk and fruit cocktails, salads, canned. Rich in vitamin C and B vitamins.
3. Rod Luffa.
   Usually, washcloths, filters, rugs, and insulating materials are made from the fruits of plants of this genus. How vegetables are cultivated annual vines .
   • Egyptian luffa (cylindrical luffa), cultivated in countries with a tropical and subtropical climate, has smooth, ribless, cylindrical or club-shaped fruits up to 50-70 cm long, 6-10 cm in diameter.
   • Luffa sharp-ribbed (faceted luffa), growing in Pakistan and India and imported to a number of other countries, has a club-shaped fruit with protruding longitudinal ribs, up to 30-35 cm long, 6-10 cm in diameter.
   The pulp of young fruits is juicy and slightly sweet, reminiscent of cucumber in taste. As the luffa fruit ripens, its flesh becomes dry and fibrous. Young fruits are eaten raw, stewed, boiled, canned.
4. Rod Chayote.
   - a perennial climbing plant, reaching 20 meters in length, cultivated in countries with a tropical and subtropical climate. Chayote edible forms up to 10 root tubers with white pulp weighing up to 10 kg. Fruits are round or pear-shaped with a thin, strong skin; whitish, light yellow or green; 7-20 cm long and weighing up to a kilogram. Inside the fruit is one white flat-oval seed 3-5 cm in size. The pulp of the fruit is sweetish juicy, rich in starch. All parts of the plant are edible. Most often, unripe fruits are eaten (stewed, boiled, raw added to salads). The seeds are roasted. The tubers are cooked like potatoes. Since chayote edible tubers are used for food, it can also be classified as a tuber vegetable.
5. Rod Watermelon.
   - an annual herbaceous plant, melon culture. The fruit of the watermelon is spherical, oval; fruit color from white and yellow to dark green with a pattern in the form of stripes or spots; the flesh is very juicy, sweet, often red, pink or crimson, rarely yellow or whitish. Watermelon pulp contains up to 13% of easily digestible sugars. Watermelon is eaten raw as a fruit, rarely salted.
6. Rod Benicaz.
   - herbaceous liana cultivated in the countries of South, Southeast, East Asia. The fruits are spherical or oblong in shape, large, on average 35 cm in length, but reach 2 meters. Young fruits are velvety, as they ripen, they are covered with a wax coating, so that they can be stored for a long time. Wax gourd is eaten raw, candy and sweets are made from it, boiled. The seeds are eaten roasted, the young greens can be used in salads.
7. Rod Momordica.
   • - an annual herbaceous vine grown in areas with a warm climate, mainly in South and Southeast Asia. Fruits of medium size (10 cm long, 4 cm in diameter) with a rough surface, wrinkled warty. The shape of the pumpkin is oval, spindle-shaped. Unripe green fruits with dense, juicy, crisp, pale green flesh have a bitter taste. As they ripen, the fruits become bright yellow or orange, becoming even more bitter. Unripe fruits are eaten, which are soaked for several hours in salt water before stewing or boiling to remove bitterness. Young fruits are preserved. Young shoots with flowers and leaves are stewed. The fruit contains a large amount of iron, calcium, potassium and carotene.
   • - another edible cultivated momordica, grows in India. Its fruits are oval-round, warty, turning yellow or orange as they ripen. Fruits are eaten boiled, fried. The fruit is rich in carotene, calcium, phosphorus.
8. Genus Lagenaria.
   - an annual liana of the subtopic and tropical zone, cultivated in Africa, China, South Asia, South America, the young fruits of which are eaten, and vessels, utensils, smoking pipes, musical instruments are made from old ones (the instrument is called "bark"). Unripe fruits with loose pulp and a bitter taste are used for food. The seeds are used to make edible oil.
9. Rod Cyclantera.
   from South America, cultivated in the tropics and subtropics. Small oval, narrowed at both ends, fruits (length 5-7 cm, diameter 3 cm) with thick juicy walls and 8-10 black seeds in the inner cavity are eaten young (when the skin of the fruit is green). When ripe, the pumpkin becomes cream or pale green. Salads are made from raw fruits, or the vegetable is consumed stewed. Young shoots and flowers are also used as food.
10. Genus Trichozant.
    - a herbaceous liana cultivated in the tropics and subtropics of Australia, South and Southeast Asia. The fruit is very long, reaches up to 1.5 meters in length and up to 10 cm in diameter, in the process of growth it often acquires bizarre curves. The color of the ripe fruit is orange, the skin is thin, the flesh is red, slimy, tender. A very popular pumpkin vegetable in Asian cuisine. The greens of the plant (leaves, stems, tendrils) are used in cooking as a green vegetable for salads.
11. Genus Melotria.
    - perennial herbaceous liana, sometimes cultivated for the sake of small (2-3 cm in length) edible fruits that taste like cucumbers. The fruits are eaten unripe. In addition to round-oval green-striped pumpkin fruits, the plant produces edible tubers comparable in size and shape to sweet potato tubers. Tuber weight reaches 400 grams. Tubers, to taste something between a radish and a cucumber) are used in salads, the fruits are eaten raw, canned, pickled.
12. Genus Tladianta.
    - perennial herbaceous liana, grows in the Russian Far East, Primorsky Territory, Northeast China. Cultivated to a limited extent as an edible and ornamental plant. Ripe fruits are similar in size and shape to small cucumbers, only soft red with barely noticeable stripes. The pulp of the fruit is sweet, contains many small dark seeds. Ripe fruits are removed ripe at the end of September. Eat raw, make jam, jam. Green fruits can be preserved in the same way as cucumbers.
13. Rod Sikana.
    - a large herbaceous liana cultivated in the tropical zone of South and Central America. Ripe fruits are red, orange, burgundy or purple, elongated, slightly curved, large (up to 60 cm long, 11 cm in diameter and weighing up to 4 kg) with a glossy smooth peel. The flesh is orange or yellow, very sweet and juicy, with a melon flavor. In the center of the fruit is a fleshy core with many oval seeds. Young pumpkins are eaten raw in salads, fried, added to soups and meat dishes. From ripe fruits, you can cook jam, make jam, but it is most delicious to eat raw. Well kept.

The use of pumpkin vegetables

Pumpkin vegetables are quite widely used in nutrition. They are stewed, baked, fried, eaten raw, added to salads, pickled and salted, and even caviar and mashed potatoes are made. Pumpkin and zucchini are widely used in children's and dietary nutrition. Some cucurbits (such as watermelon, melon, and ripe cassabanana) are eaten as fruits. Pumpkin vegetables are rich in vitamin C, carotene, contain B vitamins, trace elements.

For medicinal purposes, pumpkin vegetables are used more often to improve metabolism and digestion and the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, as a diuretic and choleretic. Cucumber is actively used in cosmetology as a component of lotions and creams, it helps the skin get rid of acne and makes it velvety. Pumpkin seeds and edible cyclantera seeds have an anthelmintic effect.

Pumpkin fruits, tops and old tubers of chayote are used in animal husbandry as feed. Zucchini fruits are also used to feed poultry and some livestock.

Parts of pumpkin plants are also used for non-food purposes. So, hats and mats are woven from the stems of chayote and gourd, and washcloths are made from luffa. Bottle gourds are still used to make dishes, as well as smoking pipes, musical instruments, and souvenirs.

Many plants of the gourd family are climbing vines that can cling to a support with their tendrils. Therefore, some plants (for example, Peruvian cucumber) are used as decorative street bindweeds, to create shady arbors and decorate balconies and walls of buildings.

The family includes mainly herbaceous plants, less often shrubs. They are distributed mainly in the tropics of both hemispheres. Pumpkin with edible fruits: watermelons, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins - are cultivated by man very widely. Watermelon is the most drought-resistant of all pumpkins, and in our country the best varieties of it are bred in the south: in the Volga region, the southern steppe regions and in Central Asia. This is not surprising, since the closest relative of cultivated watermelons is common watermelon(Citrullus vulgaris) grows in African deserts - Kalahari and others. Another type of watermelon lives in the dry regions of Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan - coloquint(Citrullus colocynthis), whose bitter fruits are of medicinal value.

We will study the structure of flowers and fruits in gourds with several examples.

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) (Fig. 113, 1, 2, 3). For classes, herbarium specimens of a plant in flowers, flowers and young (taken immediately after flowering) fruitlets stored in alcohol are needed. In addition to the usual equipment, a razor is also needed here. Examining the herbarium sample, we note the following:

1) recumbent pentahedral stems, which often give adventitious roots at the nodes and take root;

2) simple, unbranched antennae, which is a very important generic feature of cucumber and melon, in contrast to watermelon and pumpkin, which have branched antennae;

3) leaves are heart-shaped at the base, five-lobed, and, unlike melon, the lobes of cucumber leaves are sharp;

4) stems and petioles of leaves, pedicels and ovaries of flowers coarsely hairy;

5) the flowers are dioecious, the staminate ones sit in bunches, and the pistillate ones are more often solitary in the axils of the leaves.

Having laid the pistillate flower on the magnifying glass table, we will examine it and, having placed the YUHOcular, we will get acquainted with the thorns covering the surface of the ovary and cucumber fruit.

These spikes turn out to be modified hairs, at the base of which are swollen cells that look like warts. At the top of each of them there is a point - strong, even a little lignified. This is why young cucumbers are often prickly. If we look at the hairs covering the calyx, we will see that their main cells are much thinner, the hairs are multicellular and less rigid than those on the ovary.

We now turn to the analysis of the perianth. The calyx and corolla are fused together. The number of sepals and corolla lobes is five, the flowers are yellow. To examine the internal structure of a flower, we open its tube with a needle and unfold it. In the center of the female flower, we will see a short massive column with the same massive three-lobed stigma at the top. It should be noted that each lobe of the stigma is bifid, in turn, so it gives the impression of a six-blade past. Considering the blades of the stigma, we note what a huge perceiving surface it has! All six of its massive processes are covered with a thick layer of papillae. At the base of the corolla tube, we notice a white massive corrugated ring - these are nectar scales along with an underdeveloped androecium that has adhered to them.

The last stage of our work with the female flower will be the analysis of its ovary. The easiest way to understand its structure is on sections of young fruitlets. Take such a fruit and cut it across a little above the middle. Then we trim the edge of the lower half of the fruit with a razor and make a thin transverse cut as possible. The study will be carried out in a drop of water at 20 X magnifier eyepiece.

At the first glance at the cut, it will seem to us that the ovary is three-celled. However, having examined it carefully, we note that each nest is still divided in half by a very thin film (usually poorly visible on sections of the flower ovary). The ovary is six-celled, although these secondary septa are often incomplete. On diagrams of cucurbit flowers, they are indicated by a dotted line. Consider seedlings. Each of them protrudes into the ovary and bifurcates at its outer wall, its ends are bent to the side, and the ovules are located on them. As a result, each placenta looks like an umbrella in section. The fruit of the cucumber is berry-like, the so-called pumpkin.

After the work just done, the analysis of the male flower of the cucumber will no longer present great difficulties. Let's open and unroll his tube. The sepals and lobes of the corolla are also among the five, and the pubescence is less rigid than the female flower. The receptacle is saucer-shaped, stamens are located on it, often fused with anthers into a common head. When the flower unfolds, the stamens separate from each other and turn out to be consisting of three groups: two large and one smaller. There are only five stamens here, four of them are fused in pairs, and one is free.

We will take a closer look at this free stamen. The staminate filament is short, wide, its anthers are long; they are w-shaped but bent and fit on a wide connection. The liaison at its top gives a large bipartite outgrowth. The anthers are two-celled and open with a longitudinal slit, and at their edges, adherent to the connective, a dense brush of hairs is visible. These hairs are sticky, their secretions, dirtying the insect, contribute to the adhesion of pollen to its body. In the center of the male flower, around the underdeveloped pistil, there are five callous thickenings, sometimes significantly merged with each other, and only three tubercles protrude on an annular swollen base - these are nectaries.

The birthplace of cucumber and melon is India.

Pumpkin(Cucurbita pepo). Huge pumpkin flowers are easy to study. It is better to harvest them in the form of buds (male and female). Pumpkin flowers are axillary, solitary. By examining them, we note the following:

1) In male flowers, the stamens are also fused into groups: 2 + 2 + 1 (free). However, this is noticeable only at the base of their massive threads, where there are small holes between them - windows leading inside the flower. The upper part of the stamen filaments and all their anthers have grown together into one large column, dotted on the surface with loop-like pollen sacs.

Then we open the stamen tube with a needle and bend the stamens to the side. At the top of the receptacle, around the immature pistil, we will see a nectar roller, the passage to which for insects is possible only through the windows remaining at the base of the stamen column. The process of accretion of the stamens in the gourd, therefore, has gone further than we have seen it in the cucumber. To make sure that three groups of stamens have grown together here, we cut the stamen tube across, slightly above its base, and we will see that the tube consists, as it were, of three bundles of stamen filaments adhering to each other.

2) The structure of the pistillate flower is the same as in the previous species.

With male pumpkin flowers, it is also good to compare watermelon flowers, in which you can find stamens that are in various stages of fusion with each other: 2 + 2 + 1; 2+1+1+1; 3 + 2. In the female flowers of watermelons, the rudiments of stamens are also frequent, and in the male flowers one can see an underdeveloped and even lobed stigma. Bisexual flowers are found in melons. We can therefore conclude that in gourds dioeciousness is a secondary phenomenon. Flower formulas: male - K (5) C (5) A (2) + (2) + 1; female - K (5) C (5) G - (3) .

Having studied the herbaceous forms of gourds, we can conclude that their stems are climbing or recumbent - lashes clinging with the help of tendrils growing from the axils of the leaves (i.e., tendrils of stem origin). characteristic feature family is also the dominance of dioecious flowers, and pumpkin can be both monoecious and dioecious. The ovary is always lower with lateral parietal (parietal) placenta. The pistil is most often formed by three fused carpels.

Material from the Uncyclopedia

Vegetable crops are herbaceous plants grown for heads, roots, bulbs, leaves, fruits. Cultivate 120 species vegetable plants. 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 nutrient reserves are deposited, remain 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 a variety of combinations of sugars, organic acids, aromatic and mineral substances contained in them. 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 created over 700 varieties and hybrids vegetable crops, which are zoned in different 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 testifies to great variety biological features of 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 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 applying mineral fertilizers, not only the yield increases, but also the quality of products improves, the ripening of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and early cabbage is accelerated. Valuable potash fertilizer is wood ash. 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 to acidic soils once 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. In doing so, it should be taken into account that good predecessors for cabbage - 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 spudded 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 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 pumpkin family, cucumber, watermelon, melon, pumpkin, zucchini and squash are of the greatest economic importance and widespread. 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 of vegetable plants - melons.

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. From 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, hotbeds and small-sized film shelters, in the summer-autumn period from open soil. 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 stem 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), of various shapes, sizes, pubescence, color, pattern and other features. The fruits contain 100-400 seeds. There are also seedless, so-called parthenocarpic forms of cucumber.

Under favorable conditions, cucumber seeds germinate 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 root system will develop sufficiently, the rapid growth of leaves and stems begins. 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, on the main stem (lashes) are formed side shoots of the first order, then shoots of the second order 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).

There are usually significantly more male flowers in plants of monoecious cucumber forms than female ones, and their ratio is not the same on different parts of the plant. 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 environmental factors and artificial effects on plants. Lowering the temperature and increasing the humidity of the air and soil, reducing daylight hours during the formation of flowers, fumigating with 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. Largest number female flowers are 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 Research Institute of Organic Chemistry (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 temperature conditions: an increase in viscosity is observed protoplasm, a decrease in the water content 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 neoformation, 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.

Optimal soil moisture for cucumber plants in different periods growing season is within 70-80% HB, and relative humidity - 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 a more successful completion of the 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 of air and soil with an 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 canning. 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.

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MINISTRY OF HIGHER, SECONDARY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

ANDIJAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Thesis

for a master's degree

Biomorphological characteristics of the gourd family. pumpkin, their types and meanings.

5 A420103 - Botany

SupervisorAssociate Professor.M.Abdullaev

Hellsgozalova Zulfand I

Andijan-2011

Plan

• Introduction
• 1.1 SubfamilyCucurbitoideae
• 1.2 SubfamilyZanonioideae
• 2.1 Morphological features of cucurbits
• 2.2 Biological and botanical features
• 3. Experimental part
• 4. Pumpkin, their types and meanings
• 4.1 Most common pumpkin varieties in Central Asia
• 4.2 The nutritional value pumpkins
• 4.3 Medical and medicinal properties pumpkins
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Applications

Introduction

RelevanceTopicsresearch.

The flora of our planet is very diverse. It is often spoken of as the basis of the life of the entire organic world, a source of energy, strength, health, and aesthetic pleasure. Comp.d.I. Traytak - Reading book on botany. M. "Enlightenment" 1978

By improving the nature of plants, man creates the best benefits for himself. At the same time, it maximally satisfies the needs that, in the age of development of technology, industry and agriculture, force every person to deal with flora very seriously, knowing and considering the laws of nature. Since the appearance of man, one can note his desire to study nature, transform or enrich it in the desired direction.

Currently, great importance is given to the production of products with a high content of biologically active substances. One of these crops, which have both therapeutic and prophylactic value, is pumpkin, which can be stored throughout winter period and use for food purposes or processing.

Recently, natural healing agents are becoming increasingly recognized in medical practice. In addition to drugs approved by the Pharmacological Committee, which are the main therapeutic agents, there are many healing factors that play an auxiliary and preventive role in the treatment of certain diseases. Unfortunately, they, while playing a less important role in the treatment and prevention of many diseases, often go unnoticed.

gourd family gourd food

The correct use of natural healing agents in acceptable doses for the human body is almost harmless and does not cause deviations from the norm of both an individual organ and the body as a whole. A. Altymyshev - Natural healing means.F. "Kyrgystan" 1985, pp. 6-7.

Goalsandtasksdissertations.

I chose this dissertation work for a biomorphological comparison of species of the gourd family, and to characterize their external similarities and differences. Studying and researching the pumpkin family, I found that there are more than 130 species, and they are all very diverse. The species of this family differ in morphological, anatomical and botanical structures, habitats and distribution, as well as their use in the national economy.

DegreedevelopmentTopics.

This family has been studied quite well, but there are also facts unknown to science that require additional and detailed research. With my master's thesis, I tried to contribute to the coverage of previously insufficiently studied issues.

For a more extensive study and study of the biomorphological features of the pumpkin family, I planted two types of pumpkin in my garden (forage large-fruited (cucurbita maxima) and nutmeg (cucurbita moshata)). For four months, I followed the growth of these two types of pumpkins. This helped me get to know the gourd family more closely.

Scientificnovelty.

Thanks to the study of this topic, you can discover a lot of new things for yourself and humanity. After all, each plant keeps many secrets that are revealed to people as scientific and technological progress develops.

Practicalsignificance.

Vegetables are of great importance in human nutrition. They are valuable not only because they contain sugars, proteins, fats, mineral salts, vitamins and enzymes in an easily digestible form, but also because they regulate digestion and improve the absorption of other foods. The systematic use of vegetables increases the vitality of the body. Vegetable food helps to maintain a slightly alkaline blood reaction and neutralizes the harmful effects of acidic substances contained in meat, bread and fats.

The importance of vegetables as sources of vitamins is great. After all, a lack of one or more vitamins leads to disruption of human life processes, and a prolonged absence leads to diseases. The lack of vegetables in winter and early spring is one of the reasons for the decrease in the body's resistance to diseases. Synthetic drugs, which are also capable of causing allergies and side diseases, cannot compensate for vital necessary complex vitamins found in vegetables.

In one type of vegetable, several vitamins are often present, which enhances the physiological effect of each of them.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and carotene (provitamin A) enter our body mainly from vegetables and fruits. Skripnikov Yu.G. - All about the pumpkin Almanac "Garden and Garden" - M .: Kolos, 1993 pp. 23-26

Pumpkin occupies a special place among vegetable crops in solving the problem of nutrition. Pumpkin is rich in vitamins, juicy, well-digestible product. The pumpkin contains salts of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper, zinc and other elements. The pumpkin contains vitamins C, B 1, B 2, B 6, E, carotene. Pumpkin is widely used for food and feed purposes, and is also a raw material for the canning, confectionery and vitamin industries. Skurikhin I.M., Volgarev M.N. - Chemical composition of food products. M.: VO "Agropromizdat", 1987. P. 360

1. General characteristics of the family

Kingdom : Plants

Department : Angiosperms

Class : Dicotyledonous

Order : gourds

Family : Pumpkin

Genus : Pumpkin

Family Cucurbitaceae ( lat. Cucurbitaceae). 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. Plant life 5 volume II part 53 - 54 pages.

Pumpkin - a family of dicotyledonous plants, related, according to one author, to the separate-petal order Passiflorinae, according to others - to the cleavage order Campanulinae. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Pumpkin annual or perennial, climbing or creeping herbs, rarely shrubs, with alternate, palmate or pinnate (less often separate) or simple leaves. Most members of the family are equipped with antennae, which are modified shoots. The stems are mostly succulent, rich in water, creeping along the ground or clinging with the help of simple or branched tendrils, which, judging by the location of the tendrils and their distortion, are most correctly mistaken for modified shoots with leaves.

The leaves of gourds are petiolate, simple, lobed or palmately rasschennye, with a heart-shaped base; they are arranged in a spiral in 2/5; leaves, like the stem, hard or hairy; there are no stipules.

Flowers are usually unisexual, unisexual or dioecious, rarely bisexual (in S chizopepon), actinomorphic, single or collected most often in axillary inflorescences - bunches, brushes, panicles, umbrellas, rarely in a brush or in a shield. The flower cover consists of the calyx and corolla fused at the base for a greater or lesser extent. The perianth, together with the base of the filaments, forms a flower tube attached to the ovary; calyx with five (rarely 3, 4 or 6) teeth or lobes, imbricate in bud formation; occasionally (at Cyclanthera explodens and in some varieties Cucurbita maxima) the calyx does not develop, sometimes (in Dimorphochlamys) it remains with the fruits. Corolla or joint-petal (in Cucumis, Cucurbita, Citrullus etc.), bell-shaped or dish-shaped, or (in Bryonia, Ecballium, Sicyos etc.) separate-petaled, tiled in bud, folded, five-lobed or five-parted (to dissected), yellow or white, less often 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. Five stamens are developed in the male flower, of which either one is free, and the remaining four fuse in pairs, or all five stamens fuse into one column; the stamens bear only half of the developed anther (their anther is bilocular), either straight or coiled in the form of the letter S, ring or spiral. The male flower sometimes contains the rudiment of a pistil. In a female flower, barren stamens (staminodes) sometimes appear in the number of 3-2 or 5; the pistil consists mostly of three carpels, rarely of 4-5, fused at their edges and forming a corresponding number of nests in the ovary; ovary lower, multi-seeded; ovules anatropic, mostly surrounded by mucus; the style is simple, tripartite at the apex, with a thick, curved, lobed or ciliated stigma.

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; it contains more than a hundred useful substances, including proteins, fats and many vitamins.

In the vast majority of members of the family, the fruits are similar in structure to a berry, but very peculiar, called "pumpkin", sometimes of enormous size, either completely soft, or with more or less hard, woody outer layers (for example, in Lagenaria, Cucurbita and etc.). The seed is protein-free, in some representatives (for example, in Ecbalium elaterium Rich, mad cucumber), the seeds are thrown out with force when the fruit is torn off. 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.

Anatomically, gourds are distinguished by the presence of bicollateral vascular fibrous bundles. Representatives of this family are widely distributed over the earth's surface, with the exception of all cold countries, but most of them are found under the tropics, the northern border of distribution in Europe coincides almost with the northern border of the oak, there are more genera in the Old World (54) than in the New World; seven genera ( Alsomitra, Melothria, Corallocarpus, Luffa, Cucumis, Cayaponia and Sicyos) are found in the Old and New Worlds. This large family (85 genera and up to 600 species) is subdivided on the basis of the structure of the androecium, the number of nests in the ovary, the characteristics of the ovules, etc. into five groups (or tribes): Fevilleae, Melothrleae, Cucurbiteae, Sicyoideae and Cyclanthereae and into several subgroups (or subtribes).

Pumpkin - one of the most useful families: the fruits of many species are edible (melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons, species Sechium, Acanthosicyos, Pelfairia etc.), other species are used to prepare vessels ( Lagenaria) or (vascular fibrous bundles), bath sponges, etc. ( Luffa). Some species ( Bryonia, Luffa, Lagenaria) are cultivated as ornamental plants.

The most modern classification of the pumpkin family belongs to the English botanist C. Jeffrey (1980). According to this classification, the family is divided into two subfamilies and 8 tribes. Plant life 5 volume II part 53 - 54 pages.

1.1 Subfamily Cucurbitoideae

One of the most primitive representatives of the gourd subfamily is the genus Telfairia ( Telfairia), belonging to the tribe Zholiffiaceae ( Joliffieae). It includes two closely related species, common in Africa and cultivated there, - foot-shaped telfairia ( T. pedata) and telfairia occidentalis ( T. occidentalis). These are perennial climbing vines with a thick woody stem and three- to five-lobed leaves, reaching a length of 15-20 m. Green fruits reach a length of 60-70 cm and a weight of 20-25 kg. The fruit is divided into nine longitudinal segments, in each of which, tightly pressed to each other, lie red flattened large seeds. The fatty, sweetish seeds taste like almonds and are widely eaten. An edible oil similar to olive oil is extracted from the seeds, and the cake is an excellent fodder for livestock. The pulp of the fruit is boiled and fried like a pumpkin.

The same tribe includes the genera momordica ( Momordica) and tladianta ( thladiantha). 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. An example is momordica charantia. Momordica has adaptations to protect its immature seeds from external enemies. Until the seeds are fully ripe, all green parts of the plant are dotted with microscopic "explosive hairs". On a tiny leg sits a spherical head filled with caustic substances. One has only to touch the plant a little, as the heads of disturbed hairs are separated from the stem with an explosion and a viscous liquid is splashed outward, causing burning of unprotected skin, especially the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes. The dark red fruits of momordica crack at the top with three wings. They contain large flat seeds encased in an orange arillus rich in starch and carotenoids. The seeds thrown out by the plant are clearly visible to the ants, which take them further. If the ants do not have time to eat the aryllus, then the embryo of the germinating seed uses this starch as a nutrient for its growth and development. The fleshy fruits of momordica are valued as a vegetable in boiled, fried and pickled form. Tubers, young shoots and leaves are also edible.

In the genus Tladianta, there are about 15 species that grow in East and Southeast Asia. One of the species is dubious tladianta ( T. dubia) - is found in our Far East, in South Primorye. It is a perennial herbaceous climbing dioecious plant. The stems are protruding-hairy, with heart-shaped, entire, felted leaves on the outside. The life of the dubious Tladianta is closely connected with its pollinator - a tiny wild bee from the genus Ctenoplectra ( Ctenoplectra). In the evening, the insect climbs into the opening bud of the male flower. After spending the night in warmth, the next morning the bee flies to the female flower and leaves the brought pollen on its stigma. I wonder what this bee never visits gourds. On the contrary, domestic bees, as well as bumblebees and wasps pollinating cucumbers, melons and pumpkins, do not notice tladianta flowers. Apparently, this circumstance has led to the fact that vegetative reproduction prevails over seed reproduction in Tladianta. A chain of tubers is formed on each section of the above-ground shoot that hangs low above the ground and on all underground shoots. Since a new shoot is pulled out from each tuber next spring and tubers connected in the form of a chain grow again underground, the plant takes quite a long time for several years. large area(up to 10-12 m 2), forming a dense and rapidly increasing group. The fruits, similar in size and shape to small cucumbers, turn red by the end of September, become soft and very sweet. The pulp contains 40-100 dark seeds with a hard skin. Tladianta dubious grows in coastal meadows, among shrubs, on loose sandy deposits of sea coasts, and also as a weed in gardens and orchards.

To another tribe (benincase tribe - Benincaseae) include genera acanthositsios ( Acanthosicyos, 2 species), mad 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. Akanthositsios bristly ( A. horridus, Fig.25, 6 - 10) grows in the dry sandy deserts of Southwest Africa on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and along the banks of the rivers flowing into it. This low leafless plant is endowed with all the features of a typical xerophyte, having a number of biological adaptations that allow it to live in extremely harsh conditions of existence. The thickened woody root of acanthositsios reaches a very long length, sometimes up to 12 m. In the rainy season, its perennial spindle-shaped tubers store large amounts of water, which is gradually consumed during a drought.

The bluish densely hairy stem of acanthositsios is covered with large sharp spines spread out in all directions, and the leaves have turned into tiny scales. The whole plant is woody, hard, like stone. Even the sepals of small sessile flowers are hard, and the pale yellow petals are leathery. Dense thickets of acanthositsios, usually found on dry sand dunes, can be compared to nets that trap wind-blown sand and thus resist its movement. As a result, the shrub does not suffer from moving sands.

Dense yellow-raspberry pulp of acanthositsios fruits has a sweet and sour taste and excellent aroma. Therefore, the fruits are widely eaten, and among the locals they are considered a delicacy. Jackals and hyenas also willingly eat the fruits (for dessert, after a hearty meat dish), thus spreading large, hard-shelled seeds over long distances. The second species of this genus is Noden's acanthositsios ( A. naudinianus) - sometimes included in the genus watermelon ( Citrullus

Crazy cucumber ordinary ( E. elaterim) grows in the Azores, the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, as well as in the south of the European part of the CIS, in the Crimea and the Caucasus, mainly along the seashore, on light sandy soils or as a weed near housing. This is a large herbaceous perennial with a thickened, fleshy root, rough short stems without antennae and large, rigidly pubescent lobed leaves. Bright yellow flowers solitary or collected in small groups. Prickly greenish fruits resemble small cucumbers. It is not in vain that this plant is called "mad cucumber": by the time the fruits ripen, enormous hydrostatic pressure arises in them (almost 6 atmospheres).

Even a light touch on a ripe fruit causes a stunning effect. Crazy Cucumber shoots like a spray gun. In an instant, the cucumber breaks away from the stalk, and a strong stream of sticky mucus is thrown out of the hole formed at the base of the fruit, dragging the seeds with it. With such an "artillery shelling" the seeds are thrown out by the plant at a distance of more than 12 m. The fur of an animal that has disturbed the thickets of a mad cucumber is instantly covered with seeds surrounded by mucus. The mucus gradually dries up, and the seeds fall off one by one, thus spreading over long distances.

In folk medicine and homeopathy, the juice of unripe fruits is used. Large doses of fruit juice can cause serious poisoning.

Of the other genera of the same tribe, watermelon should be mentioned first of all ( Citrullus). 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-seed juicy pumpkin with flat seeds. Watermelon is common in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The genus includes 3 species: edible watermelon ( FROM. lanatus), colocynth ( FROM. colocynthis), watermelon bezusik ( FROM. ecirrhosus).

The modern natural range of the edible watermelon covers Southwest Africa. According to many authors, vast expanses of the South African Kalahari Desert, from the Orange River in the south to Lake Ngami in the north, and from longitude 24 ° east to the western ocean coast, in especially rainy years, are covered with almost continuous thickets of watermelons. Among the hard nondescript desert plants, green juicy spots of creeping, wild-growing lashes pressed to the ground stand out sharply. Rigidly pubescent leaves of an individual cover an area up to 20 m 2. Plant life 5 volume II part 56 pages

By the time the fruits ripen, the stalks dry up. Small round fruits, driven by torrents or winds, roll over long distances. On the way, watermelons crack or animals gnaw at them. At the same time, the juice moistens the soil, on which the seeds fall, surrounded by sticky mucus, and stick tightly to it. When heavy rain falls, seeds quickly germinate directly on the surface of loose sandy soil. The more rain falls in a given area, the more abundant the harvest of watermelons is here. In some remote areas of the Kalahari, these watermelons are almost the only source of moisture for travelers. But, as has long been noted by local residents, not all of these watermelons are edible. Some of them are bitter. Both forms grow intermittently.

The ancestor of the cultural table watermelon was a sweet form of a wild African ancestor. Watermelon culture began in Africa from ancient times, moved to Asia Minor, the Caucasus and Central Asia. In the XIII century. watermelon was brought to Astrakhan and spread throughout southern Russia. In the process of centuries-old artificial selection, a huge number of different varieties have been obtained.

Another interesting species of the watermelon genus is the colocynth ( FROM. Colocynthis). This is a perennial rigidly pubescent creeping herbaceous plant with triangular, deeply pinnate leaves - an inhabitant of the semi-desert and desert regions of the Canary Islands, North Africa, Spain, Sicily, Greece, Southwest Asia, Western and South India. The small spherical fruits of the colocynth are covered with a waxy coating; the pulp is bitter, inedible. The fruits contain the glycosidic resin colocynthine, which has a strong laxative effect. They have long been used in medicine in many countries, for which plants are cultivated.

The range of the barnacleless watermelon 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 stepping ( Bryonia), lagenaria, or gourd ( Lagenaria), benincasa ( Benincasa) and some others.

The genus step includes 12 species growing in the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, Europe, Western 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 in representatives of this genus the fruit 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. The overripe berries of the steppe 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.

In the "Red Book", among other endangered plants of our country, there is an chokeberry step ( AT. melanocarpa) is a rare endemic species of Uzbekistan, found only in South-Eastern Kyzylkum. This creeping climbing plant among the local population is very popular as a medicinal plant, and as a result of immoderate harvesting, it will soon completely disappear from the face of the earth if urgent measures are not taken to protect it. Plant life 5 volume II part 57 pages

Monotypic genus Lagenaria, or gourd, ware gourd ( Lagenaria), is represented by the species Lagenaria vulgaris ( L. siceraria). This is one of the oldest cultivated gourd plants, unknown in the wild.

Culture has become extremely widespread on all continents. Lagenaria is an annual creeping liana with a faceted furrowed pubescent stem up to 15 m long and pentagonal corrugated leaves, in the axils of which there are single small white tubular flowers with a wheel-shaped corolla. Young ovaries with loose pulp, with a slightly bitter spicy taste, are eaten. In mature fruits, the pulp dries up, and the bark shell, consisting of lignified elements and containing stony cells, becomes extremely durable, completely waterproof. For the inhabitants of India, China, South America, Africa and the islands of Oceania, lagenaria has not lost its economic importance to this day and is widely used as vessels for storing liquids, making kitchen utensils, musical instruments, toys, etc. Edible fatty oil is extracted from seeds, and hats and baskets are woven from long flexible stems.

Ripe lagenaria fruits are so light that they do not sink in salt water and are able to swim in the ocean for a long time without damage and without loss of seed germination. Since ancient times, accidentally falling into the Atlantic Ocean, the fruits of lagenaria, picked up by ocean currents, sailed from the coast of West Africa to Brazil or through the Pacific Ocean came from Southeast Asia to Peru, and from there the ancient inhabitants of South and North America spread throughout the continent .

In tropical Asia, as well as in countries Latin America and Africa, the wax gourd culture is widespread ( Benincasa hispida). This creeping annual plant with large, cucumber-like leaves is native to tropical Asia. Giant spherical or oblong fruits of the "wax gourd", similar in shape to a pumpkin or melon, can reach a length of 2 m and weigh about 35 kg. The fruits are covered with a thin protective wax shell, which contributes to their long-term storage. The wax is easily removed from the fruit, and in many tropical countries is a commercial product used in medicine and for making candles. Ripe fruits with white, elastic, juicy, slightly sweetish pulp, containing a lot of pectin, are used for food, and are also used in the confectionery industry. Unripe fruits are usually pickled. The fatty oil obtained from the seeds has medicinal uses and is edible.

To the pumpkin tribe ( Cucurbiteae) includes 12 genera, including the pumpkin genus ( Cucurbita), numbering 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. For example, in the tropical rainforests of South Florida, along the shores of Lake Okeechobe, a large perennial liana grows - Okeechobe pumpkin ( FROM. aboutkherchobeensis). Its flexible stem, reaching 50 meters in length, creeps into tall trees and spreads out on top of their crowns, bringing its yellow flowers and lobed leaves to the sunlight.

Large flowers of cultivated pumpkin, forming a deep bowl, almost do not let outside cold inside. Insects often use these flowers as a shelter for the night. Flying away in the morning, insects carry pollen adhering to their bodies to other flowers.

The most common species in culture is the common pumpkin ( FROM. rero), which has a large number of varieties. In mature fruits, a lot of starch accumulates, as well as sugar - glucose, fructose, sucrose and raffinose; found pectin and alkaline salts; especially a lot of pumpkin carotene, which is a provitamin "A". Varieties of vitamin-bearing pumpkins containing 2-3 times more carotene than carrots have been bred. Therefore, pumpkin is one of the most promising crops in the CIS for the production of carotene on an industrial scale. In culture, large-fruited pumpkin is also common ( FROM. maxima) and butternut squash ( FROM. moschata).

A somewhat isolated position is occupied in the tribe Cucurbitaceae by the genus Luffa ( Luffa), which has much in common with the next tribe cyclanthers ( Cyclanthereae). There are 5 species in the genus. Some species, especially cylindrical luffa ( L. cylindrica) and faceted luffa ( L. acutangula) are widespread in culture. The green cylindrical fruits of the luffa resemble large cucumber. After ripening, the fruit becomes dry, yellow-brown to brown, 30–35 cm long (up to 1 m) and 7–20 cm in diameter. . This hard frame serves as a device for the rapid release of seeds from a mature fruit after the cap on its top opens.

Luffa is an ancient culture of India, Africa and China. In the CIS, it is cultivated extremely rarely, in small areas and only in moderately warm regions. The pulp of immature fruits is starchy and quite edible. Dry ripe fruits are processed, removing the pulp and freeing the fibrous skeleton. Numerous household items are made from this raw material - washcloths, shoes, baskets and much more. Seeds containing fatty oil and some poisonous substances, as well as leaves and roots, are used in medicine.

To the tribe cyclanthers ( 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 ( Echinocystis), uniting about 15 species, with white small monoecious flowers. Single female and male flowers collected in a brush are located in the same leaf axils. Echinocystis prickly was brought from North America to Europe ( E. echinata), which subsequently spread to the south and into middle lane the European part of the CIS, as well as in the Ussuri region of the Far East. It can be found along the banks of rivers and lakes, in bushes, as a weed in gardens. This annual plant with dissected leaves has an extremely fast growth, reaching a height of 10 meters in one season. Its thin, weak shoots are supported on supports with strong branching tendrils, twisted into a steep, strong spiral, similar to a clock spring. The plant can be pollinated not only by insects, but also by the wind. Its fragrant male flowers are always higher than the female ones. Even with a weak wind, pollen easily flies down, right on the stigmas of female flowers stretched upwards. In autumn, the plant develops bluish-green, oval, prickly, extremely peculiar fruits that open. At the top of the fruit there is a cap that opens when ripe, causing the seeds to scatter around.

Another interesting genus of the tribe is cyclantera ( Cyclanthera), 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, so the plants are pollinated mainly by 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. The tribe includes 6 genera, of which the most interesting are Sitsios ( Sicyos) and chayote ( Sehium).

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. One of the species is angular sitsios ( S. angulatus) - was brought from North America to Russia and is currently found in the southern regions of the European part of the CIS as a weed near housing. This climbing glandular-pubescent plant with a thin furrowed stem and round-ovate leaves has a rapid growth and develops lashes up to 6 m long during the season. Its tendrils react extremely quickly to the slightest pressure. Dry prickly single-seeded fruits of sitsios are hooked with their beak-shaped spikes on the hair of passing animals and thus spread over long distances.

Chayote, or Mexican cucumber, is represented by the only tropical American species - edible chayote ( S.edule). It is widely cultivated in the Mediterranean, South America, Africa and tropical Asia. Male flowers are collected in few-flowered inflorescences, female flowers are solitary, rarely paired. Fruits with one large seed. In chayote, a "live birth" is observed: a seedling that has grown from a seed inside a mature fruit germinates through the pericarp and forms a young shoot with leaves and tendrils. The plant is associated with the fruit until it exhausts all its nutrients. By this time, the fruit already lies on the ground and the rapidly growing strong roots of the young individual are strengthened in the soil.

The uses of chayote are extremely varied. Its fruits have an excellent taste. Young shoots are eaten like asparagus. The tuberous roots, rich in starch, taste like potatoes when boiled. Old tubers, together with tops, serve as good fodder for livestock. In the tropics, one plant produces up to 30 kg or more of tubers. The fibrous part of the stem after processing turns into a beautiful silvery straw for weaving hats and other products.

Genus Schizopepon ( schizopepon), forming a separate tribe schizopeponic ( schizopeponeae), has only 5 species, distributed from North India to East Asia. Schizopepon bryoniolifolia ( S. bryoniifolius) grows on the southern Kuril Islands, in the Ussuri Territory, on Sakhalin, in Japan, on the Korean Peninsula and in China.

The branchy climbing stems of this herbaceous two-meter liana, with the help of long two-part tendrils, braid shrubbery along the banks of streams and rivers or on the edges of mixed forests. The alternate heart-shaped ovate leaves are sparsely covered with fine hairs. Bisexual or unisexual axillary small flowers solitary or in rare racemes. Small, fleshy green fruits open with three outward-curving flaps, which provide active spreading of three flat seeds.

To the Trichosanth tribe ( Trichosantheae) belongs to 10 genera. All of them 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 genus Trichosanthes ( Trichosanthes), 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.

In India, Africa and the Pacific Islands, the most popular and widely cultivated is the so-called "snake cucumber" ( T. anguina), whose giant cylindrical fruits grow up to 1.5 m long. This plant is grown on trellises. To get straighter and longer fruits, a small stone is hung at the end of each "cucumber" from the moment it is formed. Otherwise, the "cucumber" during its growth will snake like a snake, forming steep loops.

Also of interest is the monotypic Indo-Malesian genus Hodgson, close to Trichosanthes ( Hodgsonia). Hodgsonia heteroclita ( H. heteroclita) is a large vine cultivated in some tropical countries as a food plant for its large fleshy pumpkin-like fruits and extremely oily seeds. Hodgsonia flowers, white above and velvety yellow with red veins below, are unusually attractive: all five petals of the wheel-shaped corolla end in a long fringe of hanging, twisted, hairy, thin outgrowths up to 15-20 cm long.

To the tribe melotriaceae ( Melothrieae) include 34 genera, including the genus Cucumber ( Cucumis), 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. Especially common in the culture of cucumber sowing ( FROM. sativus) - the ancient culture of India, which then became popular in all countries of the world. This annual plant develops whips up to 1.5 m long with triangular-pointed rough leaves and funnel-shaped bright yellow dioecious flowers; female flowers are solitary, male flowers are collected in axillary bunches. Plants cultivated in humid areas have special adaptations to remove excess moisture from the body. Their young oblong fruitlets are covered with spines. This is nothing more than micropumps that pump out excess moisture from the fruit: in the morning, when fog hangs in the air, a tiny dew drop appears at the end of each spine, "sucked" from the tissues of the cucumber. Melon ( FROM. melo) also currently belongs to the genus cucumber, but some botanists consider it possible to separate it into a separate genus Melo. In Asian countries, melon has been cultivated since ancient times, appearing around 4000 BC. The number of its varieties reaches a thousand. In the CIS, the best melon varieties are cultivated in Central Asia and the Transcaucasus.

Among other genera of the tribe, one can also name interesting genera corallocarpus ( Corallocarpus), melotria ( Melothria) and kedrostis ( Kedrostis).

The genus kedrostis (about 35 species) is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Madagascar, tropical Asia and Malaysia.

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. Of particular interest is prickly cedrostis ( To. spinosa). Its fruits are so peculiar that outwardly they do not even remotely resemble a pumpkin. They are completely dotted with large thick spikes and look like the shell of some kind of mollusk. Inside the fruit, tightly pressed to each other, there are 5-7 large oblong seeds.

On the island of Socotra, which lies to the northeast of African continent, on stony soil scorched by the sun, the only woody plant of the pumpkin family grows - dendrositsios socotransky, or "cucumber tree" ( Dendrosicyos socotranus). The general appearance of this low tree is very peculiar. Its voluminous, damp-swollen, slightly cone-shaped stem with light gray bark is unusually fleshy and juicy. It serves as a reservoir, storing water for the entire long dry season, as is the case, for example, with cacti. Two or three short thick branches lift up a sparse crown, consisting of thin prickly twigs with large, hand-shaped, hard, rough, spiny, long-leaved leaves along the edge. The flowers are small, yellow, unisexual, on long pubescent pedicels, collected in sparse inflorescences. Fruits resembling cucumbers are dotted with thorns. This tree, so unlike the herbaceous gourd vines, is also the furthest away from them in relatedness.

1.2 Subfamily Zanonioideae

Subfamily Zanoniaceae ( 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 ( Zanonia). 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. Actinostemma genus ( Actinostemma), 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.

In the Ussuri region of the Far East, along the valleys and banks of reservoirs, a perennial creeping plant with thin three-to-five-lobed leaves and inconspicuous flowers grows - lobed actinostemma ( BUT. lobatum). Actinostemma fruits are greenish, ovoid, up to 2 cm long, opening with a lid, seated with soft spines in the lower part; in the fruit 2 - 4 flattened pitted - wrinkled large seeds. Some species of the genus containing alkaloids and saponins are used in Chinese medicine.

2. The main species of the gourd family

For practical purposes, gourd plants are classified according to their use. In this regard, groups of vegetable, melons, medicinal and ornamental plants are distinguished separately, and the diversity of the use of some species is also noted (for example, for vegetable and technical purposes, etc.).

Vegetable: sponge, or luffa; vegetable marrow; torticollis, or kruknek; nara, or acanthositsios bristly; Antillean cucumber, or anguria; yellow cucumber, or momordica; snake cucumber, or trihozantes; Indian cucumber, or gourd; mandersky cucumber; Mexican cucumber, or chayote; Peruvian cucumber, or lobed cyclantera; seed cucumber; squash; telfairia stopiform and western; tladianta doubtful; gourd Malabar; fordgook pumpkin; hojosnia heteroclita.

Akantositsios nodena ( Acanthosicyos naudinianus) is sometimes included in the genus watermelon ( Citrullus). This dioecious plant, native to the deserts of South Africa, peels off the pericarp like an orange, exposing the edible, sweet and sour flesh.

Akanthositsios bristly ( Acanthosicyos horridus) grows in the dry sandy deserts of Southwest Africa on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and along the banks of the rivers flowing into it. This low leafless plant is endowed with all the features of a typical xerophyte, having a number of biological adaptations that allow it to live in extremely harsh conditions of existence. The thickened woody root of acanthositsios reaches a very long length, sometimes up to 12 m. In the rainy season, its perennial spindle-shaped tubers store large amounts of water, which is gradually consumed during a drought. The bluish densely hairy stem of acanthositsios is covered with large sharp spines spread out in all directions, and the leaves have turned into tiny scales. The whole plant is woody, hard, like stone. Even the sepals of small sessile flowers are hard, and the pale yellow petals are leathery. Dense thickets of acanthositsios, usually found on dry sand dunes, can be compared to nets that trap wind-blown sand and thus resist its movement. As a result, the shrub does not suffer from moving sands. Dense yellow-raspberry pulp of acanthositsios fruits has a sweet and sour taste and excellent aroma. Therefore, the fruits are widely eaten, and among the locals they are considered a delicacy. Jackals and hyenas also willingly eat the fruits (for dessert, after a hearty meat dish), thus spreading large, hard-shelled seeds over long distances.

Luffa cylindrical ( Luffa cylindrica) is widespread in culture. The green cylindrical fruits of the luffa resemble a large cucumber. After ripening, the fruit becomes dry, yellow-brown to brown, 30–35 cm long (up to 1 m) and 7–20 cm in diameter. . This hard frame serves as a device for the rapid release of seeds from a mature fruit after the cap on its top opens. Luffa is an ancient culture of India, Africa and China. In Russia, it is cultivated extremely rarely, in small areas and only in moderately warm regions. The pulp of immature fruits is starchy and quite edible. Dry ripe fruits are processed, removing the pulp and freeing the fibrous skeleton. Numerous household items are made from this raw material - washcloths, shoes, baskets and much more. Seeds containing fatty oil and some poisonous substances, as well as leaves and roots, are used in medicine.

Luffa sharp-toothed ( Luffa acutangula). The name luffa is well known to lovers of rare plants. This botanical genus of the pumpkin family combines several species. A distinctive feature of the genus are the fruits, from which, after peeling and removing the seeds, a well-known washcloth is obtained. In our country, cylindrical luffa is mainly common.

Flowers about 2 cm in diameter, lemon-yellow, dioecious. Unlike the flowers of the cylindrical luffa, they bloom at night, blooming late in the evening. Flowering is more abundant than that of cylindrical luffa, there are more female flowers, and, accordingly, more ovaries are formed. www/botanik.ru

Momordica charter ( Momordica charantia). Momordica has adaptations to protect its immature seeds from external enemies. Until the seeds are fully ripe, all green parts of the plant are dotted with microscopic "explosive hairs". On a tiny leg sits a spherical head filled with caustic substances. One has only to touch the plant a little, as the heads of disturbed hairs are separated from the stem with an explosion and a viscous liquid is splashed outward, causing burning of unprotected skin, especially the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes. The dark red fruits of momordica crack at the top with three wings. They contain large flat seeds encased in an orange arillus rich in starch and carotenoids. The seeds thrown out by the plant are clearly visible to the ants, which take them further. If the ants do not have time to eat the aryllus, then the embryo of the germinating seed uses this starch as a nutrient for its growth and development. The fleshy fruits of momordica are valued as a vegetable in boiled, fried and pickled form. Tubers, young shoots and leaves are also edible.

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