菜瓜 cai gua

Cucumis melo var. agrestis Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 4, 11: 73. 1859; Bryonia callosa Rottler; C. acidus Jacquin; C. callosus (Rottler) Cogniaux & Harms.

Ovary and young fruit sericeous with short appressed hairs; fruit in cultivated forms mostly not fragrant and not sweet.

Farmlands, roadsides. C and E China; commonly cultivated in China [throughout Old World tropics; introduced in New World tropics; also commonly cultivated in E and SE Asia, rarely cultivated elsewhere].

The fruit is used as a vegetable (菜瓜 cai gua).

The forms cultivated in China belong to the ‘Conomon’ cultivar group (Cucumis conomon Thunberg, Nova Acta Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal. 3: 208. 1780; C. melo var. conomon (Thunberg) Makino, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 16: 16. 1902).