Cucurbitoideae

Cucurbitoideae
Acanthosicyos horridus, a member of the Cucurbitoideae native to Namibia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Cucurbitales
Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Subfamily:	Cucurbitoideae
tribus
Melothrieae Schizopeponeae Joliffieae Trichosantheae Benincaseae Cucurbiteae Cyclanthereae Sicyeae

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

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

References

1. Donoghue, Michael J.; Judd, Walter S.; Campbell, Christopher; Elizabeth A. Kellogg; Stevens, Peter F. (2008). Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach. Sunderland, Mass: Sinauer Associates. ISBN 0-87893-407-3.
2. Mabberley, David (2008). Mabberley's Plant-Book: a Portable Dictionary of Plants, their Classification and Uses. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82071-5.
3. "Lagenaria Ser.". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved September 2, 2013.

External links