Cucurbitoideae Explained

The Cucurbitoideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Cucurbitaceae (gourds). The Cucurbitaceae are divided into two subfamilies, the Zanonioideae, probably a paraphyletic group of remainders, and the well-supported monophyletic Cucurbitoideae.^[1]

The subfamily Cucurbitoideae consists of eight tribes. Members of the tribe Cucurbiteae produce economically valuable fruits, called gourds, which include crops like squashes (including pumpkins), luffas, and melons (including watermelons).^[2] The tribe Benincaseae contains a genus called Lagenaria whose members produce gourds that can be eaten when young or whose ripe shells can be dried and used as containers.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Book: Donoghue, Michael J. . Judd, Walter S. . Campbell, Christopher . Elizabeth A. Kellogg . Stevens, Peter F. . Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach . Sinauer Associates . Sunderland, Mass . 2008 . 0-87893-407-3 .
2. Book: Mabberley, David . Mabberley's Plant-Book: a Portable Dictionary of Plants, their Classification and Uses . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge, UK . 2008 . 0-521-82071-5 .
3. Web site: Lagenaria Ser.. United States Department of Agriculture. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). September 2, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131029184817/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?6467. October 29, 2013. dead.