''Cucumis melo'', also known as melon, is a species of ''
Cucumis'' that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. The fruit is a
pepo
PEPO Lappeenranta (abbreviated PEPO) is a football club from Lappeenranta in Finland. The club was formed in 1958 and their home ground is at the Kimpinen Sports Centre. The men's first team currently plays in the Ykkönen (Second Division). ...
. The flesh is either sweet or bland, with or without a musky aroma, and the rind can be smooth (such as
honeydew), ribbed (such as
European cantaloupe), wrinkled (such as casaba melon), or netted (such as muskmelon). In North America, the sweet-flesh varieties are often collectively called muskmelon, including the musky netted-rind varieties and the inodorous smooth-rind varieties, and cantaloupe usually means the former type. However, muskmelon in a narrow sense only refers to the musky netted-rind type, while the true cantaloupe is the European type with ribbed and often warty rind that is seldom grown in North America.
The origin of melons is not known. Research has revealed that seeds and
rootstocks were among the goods traded along the caravan routes of the Ancient World. Some botanists consider melons native to the Levant and Egypt, while others place their origin in Iran, India or Central Asia.
Still others support an African origin, and in modern times wild melons can still be found in some African countries.
Background
The melon is an
annual, trailing herb.
It grows well in subtropical or warm, temperate climates.
Melons prefer warm, well-fertilized soil with good drainage that is rich in nutrients,
but are vulnerable to
downy mildew and
anthracnose
A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately lethal and therefore can have major economic implications for agriculture and horticultur ...
. Disease risk is reduced by
crop rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. It reduces reliance on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, and the probability of developing resistant ...
with non-
cucurbit crops, avoiding crops susceptible to similar diseases as melons.
Cross pollination has resulted in some varieties developing resistance to
powdery mildew.
Insects attracted to melons include the
cucumber beetle
Cucumber beetle is a common name given to members of two genera of beetles, ''Diabrotica'' and ''Acalymma'', both in the family Chrysomelidae. The adults can be found on cucurbits such as cucumbers and a variety of other plants. Many are notor ...
,
melon aphid,
melonworm moth and the
pickleworm.
Genetics
Melons are
monoecious
Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy.
Monoecy is ...
plants. They do not cross with
watermelon,
cucumber
Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.[pumpkin
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 ...]
, or
squash, but varieties within the species intercross frequently.
The genome of ''Cucumis melo'' was first sequenced in 2012. Some authors treat ''C. melo'' as having two subspecies, ''C. melo agrestis'' and ''C. melo melo''. Variants within these subspecies fall into groups whose genetics largely agree with their phenotypic traits, such as disease resistance, rind texture, flesh color, and fruit shape. Variants or landraces (some of which were originally classified as species; see the synonyms list to the right) include ''C. melo'' var. ''acidulus'', ''adana'', ''agrestis'', ''ameri'', ''cantalupensis'', ''chandalak'', ''chate'', ''chinensis'', ''chito'', ''conomon'', ''dudaim'', ''flexuosus'', ''inodorus'', ''makuwa'', ''momordica'', ''reticulatus'' and ''tibish''.
Not all varieties are sweet melons. The
snake melon, also called the Armenian cucumber and Serpent cucumber, is a non-sweet melon found throughout Asia from Turkey to Japan.
It is similar to a
cucumber
Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.[calories
The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of ...]
and are a rich source (20% or more the
Daily Value, DV) of
vitamin A
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and an essential nutrient for humans. It is a group of organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal (also known as retinaldehyde), retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids (most notably ...
(68% DV) and
vitamin C
Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) ...
(61% DV), with other nutrients at a negligible level.
Melons are 90% water and 9%
carbohydrates
In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...
, with less than 1% each of
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...
and
fat.
[
]
Uses
In addition to their consumption when fresh, melons are sometimes dried. Other varieties are cooked, or grown for their seeds, which are processed to produce melon oil. Still other varieties are grown only for their pleasant fragrance. The Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
ese liqueur
A liqueur (; ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged beyon ...
Midori is flavored with melon.
History
There is debate among scholars whether the ''abattiach'' in The Book of Numbers 11:5 refers to a melon or a watermelon. Both types of melon were known in Ancient Egypt and other settled areas. Some botanists consider melons native to the Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
and Egypt, while others place the origin in Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, India or Central Asia, thus the origin is uncertain. Researchers have shown that seeds and rootstocks were among the goods traded along the caravan routes of the Ancient World. Several scientists support an African origin, and in modern times wild melons can still be found in several African countries in East Africa like Ethiopia, Somalia and Tanzania.
Melon was domesticated in West Asia and over time many cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
s developed with variety in shape and sweetness. Iran, India, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and China become centers for melon production. Melons were consumed in Ancient Greece and Rome.
Gallery
File:Cucumis melo 1 (Piotr Kuczynski).jpg, Galia melon
The Galia melon, also known as sarda in Southeast Asia, is a type of F1 hybrid melon originating from a cross between the green-flesh melon cultivar 'Ha-Ogen' and the netted-rind melon cultivar 'Krimka'. Developed in Israel at the Ne´ve Yaar R ...
File:03-05-JPN202.jpg, Japanese "crown melon" intended as a high-priced gift: The pictured crown melon is 6300 yen, or about
File:Squeredmelon inside001.jpg, 'Squared melon' grown in Atsumi District, Aichi Japan, known as ''kakumero''
File:Armenian cucumbers.jpeg, The Armenian cucumber, despite the name, is actually a type of melon.
File:Prokudin-Gorskii-15.jpg, Melon vendor in Samarkand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
(between 1905 and 1915)
File:Shirouri.JPG, Oriental pickling melon
Oriental pickling melon, called ''wolgwa'' (; ) in Korean, and ''shirouri'' (; ) in Japanese, is a group of nonsweet melon cultivars used in Asian cuisines.
Use
The melon is used as a vegetable in Asian cuisines.
Japan
In Japan, the melon is ...
File:Muskmelon Seeds.jpg, Muskmelon Seeds
See also
*Bailan melon
The Bailan melon is a locally famous melon grown near Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province in the People's Republic of China.
It is a variety of honeydew melon, globose to subglobose and typically has white skin with sweet, white or pale ...
* Barattiere – a landrace variety of melon found in Southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...
* Canary melon
* Carosello – a landrace variety of melon found in Southern Italy
*Crane melon
The Crane Melon is an heirloom melon developed by Oliver Crane in the early 20th century. The melon is an edible gourd with sweet and fruity flesh.
Characteristics
The Crane Melon is a variety that was developed in the early 1900s in Penngr ...
* Gaya melon
*Hami melon
Lead
Hami melon is a kind of melon produced in Hami, Xinjiang. It is well known for its sweet taste and long-standing history.
The Hami melon (; pinyin: Hāmì guā) is a type of muskmelon, originally from Hami, Xinjiang, China.
The origin o ...
* Korean melon
* Melon ball
* Melon Day
*Montreal melon
The Montreal melon, also known as the Montreal market muskmelon or the Montreal nutmeg melon (french: melon de Montréal), is a variety of melon recently rediscovered and cultivated in the Montreal, Quebec, Canada, area. Scientifically, it is a ...
*Sugar melon
A sugar melon is a type of cantaloupe that is about in diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as th ...
References
External links
Cucumis melo L.
– Purdue University, Center for New Crops & Plant Products.
– Multilingual multiscript plant name database
– Varietal names and pictures
{{Authority control
melo
Fruits originating in Asia
Melons
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus