Citrullus lanatus

Citrullus lanatus
A cultivated watermelon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Cucurbitales
Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Genus:	Citrullus
Species:	C. lanatus
Binomial name
Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai
Synonyms
List Anguria citrullus Mill. Citrullus amarus Schrad. Citrullus anguria (Duchesne) H.Hara Citrullus aquosus Schur Citrullus battich Forssk. Citrullus caffer Schrad. Citrullus caffrorum Schrad. Citrullus chodospermus Falc. & Dunal Citrullus citrullus H.Karst. Citrullus citrullus Small Citrullus edulis Spach Citrullus edulis Pangalo nom. illeg. Citrullus mucosospermus (Fursa) Fursa Citrullus pasteca Sageret Citrullus vulgaris Schrad. Colocynthis amarissima Schrad. nom. inval. Colocynthis amarissima Schltdl. Colocynthis citrullus (L.) Kuntze Colocynthis citrullus Fritsch Cucumis amarissimus Schrad. Cucumis citrullus (L.) Ser. Cucumis dissectus Decne. Cucumis edulis Steud. nom. inval. Cucumis laciniosus Eckl. ex Steud. Cucumis laciniosus Eckl. ex Schrad. Cucumis vulgaris (Schrad.) E.H.L.Krause Cucurbita anguria Duchesne Cucurbita caffra Eckl. & Zeyh. Cucurbita citrullus L. Cucurbita gigantea Salisb. Cucurbita pinnatifida Schrank Momordica lanata Thunb.

Citrullus lanatus is a plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, a vine-like (scrambler and trailer) flowering plant originally from sub-Saharan Africa. It is cultivated for its fruit. The subdivision of this species into two cultivars, watermelons (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) var. lanatus) and citron melons (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides (L. H. Bailey) Mansf.), originated with the erroneous synonymization of Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai and Citrullus vulgaris Schrad. by L.H.Bailey in 1930. Molecular data including sequences from the original collection of Thunberg and other relevant type material, show that the sweet watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris Schrad.) and the bitter wooly melon Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai are not closely related to each other. Since 1930, thousands of papers have misapplied the name Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai for the watermelon, and a proposal has therefore been submitted to conserve the name with this meaning.

The bitter South African melon first collected by Thunberg has become naturalized in semiarid regions of several continents, and is designated as a "pest plant" in parts of Western Australia.

Tswana: Lekatane (s), Makatane (pl)

Afrikaans: Karkoer, Bitterboela, Bitterwaatlemoen, Tsamma, Kolokwint, etc.

English: Tsamma melon, Wild watermelon, Colocynth, etc.

Nama: T’sama

Zulu: Ibhece, etc.

Southern Sotho: Lehapu, etc.

The watermelon is an annual that has a prostrate or climbing habit. Stems are up to 3 m long and new growth has yellow or brown hairs. Leaves are 60 to 200 mm long and 40 to 150 mm wide. These usually have three lobes which are themselves lobed or doubly lobed. Plants have both male and female flowers on 40-mm-long hairy stalks. These are yellow, and greenish on the back.

This plant is listed on the Threatened Species Programme of the The South African National Biodiversity Institute.

The bitter wooly melon was formally described by Carl Peter Thunberg in 1794 and given the name Momordica lanata. It was reassigned to the genus Citrullus in 1916 by Japanese botanists Ninzo Matsumura and Takenoshin Nakai.

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Wikipedia