Contains 11 genera and 20 accepted taxa overall.
This family is completely databased for all specimens.
Characteristics
CUCURBITACEAE
Dicot
-
Classification
CUCURBITALES
CUCURBITACEAE
[Family identification key]
1. Fruit 1-2.5 cm long
2
1. Fruit 2.5-50 cm long
3
2. Tendrils unbranched or branched; leaf blades mostly 5-15 cm long, the central lobe with 5-15 minute teeth per side; corolla white to green; staminate flowers solitary; fruit brown, orange, to red; seeds dark brown to black,1-12 per fruit
2. Tendrils unbranched; leaf blades mostly 2-6 cm long, the central with 2-6 minute or shallow teeth per side; corolla yellow; staminate flowers 2-6 in a corymboid cluster or raceme; fruit green to black; seeds white, 30-60 per fruit
3. Tendrils unbranched (rarely branched)
4
3. Tendrils branched (rarely unbranched)
6
4. Plant hispid to setose
4. Plant glabrous to sparsely pubescent
5
5. Plant dioecious; leaf blades with 3-8 glands along each side of the midrib near the base of the underside, shallowly lobed, the sinuses <½ the blade length; corolla white; fruit red, smooth, indehiscent
5. Plant monoecious; leaf blades eglandular, deeply lobed, the sinuses >½ the blade length; corolla yellow; fruit yellow-orange to orange-red, muricate or tuberculate, dehiscent
6. Leaf blade with the central lobe pinnately lobed
6. Leaf blade only palmately lobed
7
7. Stems stipitate-glandular
7. Stems eglandular or with sessile glands
8
8. Corolla margin fimbriate
8. Corolla margin entire to toothed
9
9. Staminate flowers solitary
10
9. Staminate flowers several in a raceme
11
10. Tendrils 2- to 7-fid; petiole eglandular or with numerous stipitate glands; corolla yellow to white and yellowish towards the base, lobed to only about the middle or less
10. Tendrils 2-fid; petiole with a pair of prominent glands at the apex; corolla white (greenish at the very base), deeply lobed with only the very base connate
11. Corolla yellow (rarely pale yellow), the lobes <1 cm long; fruit cylindric, with 100-300 seeds
11. Corolla white to pale yellow, the lobes 1.5-5 cm long; fruit globose to pyriform, with 1 seed