flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
family
Cucurbitaceae
The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are:
*''Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds
*''Lagena ...
(gourds). The Cucurbitaceae are divided into two subfamilies, the
Zanonioideae
The Nhandiroboideae are a paraphyletic basal group of genera in the Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family, of flowering plants. The Nhandiroboideae comprise all members of the Cucurbitaceae that do not belong to the Cucurbitoideae
The Cucurbitoidea ...
, probably a
paraphyletic
In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...
group of remainders, and the well-supported
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
Cucurbitoideae.
The subfamily Cucurbitoideae consists of eight tribes. Members of the tribe
Cucurbiteae
The Cucurbiteae are a tribe of the subfamily Cucurbitoideae, which is part of the flowering plant family Cucurbitaceae (gourds). Species are usually Plant reproductive morphology, monoecious herbaceous plant, herbaceous annual plant, annuals or w ...
produce economically valuable
fruits
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particula ...
, called
gourds
Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly ''Cucurbita'' and ''Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the earli ...
, which include
crops
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponics ...
pumpkins
A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...
),
luffa
''Luffa'' is a genus of tropical and subtropical vines in the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae).
In everyday non-technical usage, the luffa, also spelled loofah, usually refers to the fruits of the species ''Luffa aegyptiaca'' and ''Luffa acutang ...
s, and
melons
A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a " pepo". Th ...
(including
watermelons
Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieti ...
). The tribe
Benincaseae
Benincaseae is one of 15 Tribe (biology), tribes in the family Cucurbitaceae.
Subtribes and genera
Benincaseae consists of at least one subtribe, 26 genera, and over 200 species.
*Benincasinae
**''Acanthosicyos''
**''Benincasa''
**''Citrullus'' ...
contains a genus called ''
Lagenaria
''Lagenaria'' is a genus of gourd-bearing vines in the squash family (Cucurbitaceae). ''Lagenaria'' contains six species, all of which are indigenous to tropical Africa.