As a result of his botanical explorations in northern Australia, Ferdinand von Mueller named several Cucurbitaceae that molecular data now show to be distinct, requiring their resurrection from unjustified synonymy. We here describe and illustrate Luffa saccata F. Muell. ex I.Telford, validating a manuscript name listed under Luffa graveolens Roxb. since 1859, and we lectotypify Cucumis picroca...

The present study was undertaken to investigate the diuretic effect of ethanolic seed extracts of Macrotyloma uniflorum and Cucumis melo in Albino rats. Ethanolic extracts of the seeds were administered to experimental rats orally at doses of 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg each p.o. Furosemide (5mg/kg) was used as a standard. The diuretic effects of the extracts were evaluated by measuring the Urine vol...

Cucumis melo L. that belongs to Cucurbitaceae family ranks among one of the highest valued horticulture crops being cultivated across the globe. Besides its economical and medicinal importance, Cucumis melo L. is a valuable resource and model system for the evolutionary studies of cucurbit family. However, very limited numbers of molecular markers were reported for Cucumis melo L. so far that l...

Among the fundamental questions regarding cultivated plants is their geographic origin and region of domestication. The genus Cucumis, which includes cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and melon (Cucumis melo), has numerous wild African species, and it has therefore been assumed that melon originated in Africa. For cucumber, this seemed less likely because wild cucumbers exist in India and a closely re...

Cucumis melo var. texanus, a wild melon commonly found in the southern United States and two accessions, Burleson Co. and MX 1230, expressed resistance to Meloidogyne incognita in preliminary experiments. To characterize the mechanism of resistance, we evaluated root penetration, post-penetration development, reproduction, and emigration of M. incognita on these two accessions of C. melo var. t...

BACKGROUND A critical analysis was made of cucurbit descriptions in Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, Columella's De Re Rustica and Pliny's Historia Naturalis, works on medicine, agriculture and natural science of the 1st century ce, as well as the Mishna and Tosefta, compilations of rabbinic law derived from the same time period together with cucurbit images dating from antiquity including paint...

To investigate phylogenetic relationships in the genus Cucumis, 9 consensus chloroplast simple sequence repeat (ccSSR) primer pairs (ccSSR3, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, and 23) were employed for DNA fragment length variation and 5 amplified fragments, ccSSR4, 12, 13, 19, and 20, were sequenced using total DNA from 13 accessions representing 7 African Cucumis species (x = 12), 3 Cucumis melo L. (...

Activated carbon prepared from Cucumis Melo Peel was used as adsorbent for the removal of chromium ion from aqueous solution. Adsorption experiments were performed by varying initial metal ion concentration, temperature, and pH. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms were used to analyze the equilibrium data obtained at different adsorption conditions. Adsorption results obtained, shows that the Cr ...

2007 saw the publication of two molecular phylogenies of Cucumis that relied on combined chloroplast and nuclear gene regions, and broad species sampling. One of these studies also addressed the position of Cucumis in the Cucurbitaceae family tree. It was found that the genera Cucumella, Dicaelospermum, Mukia, Myrmecosicyos, and Oreosyce are embedded within Cucumis and that the closest relative...

DNA Sequence, Satellite DNA, Cucumis melo The primary sequence of the prominent Cucumis melo satellite DNA is presented. The cloned Hind Ill-repeat unit has a length of 352 bp and a GC-content of 56%. Within this sequence an inverted repeat of 9 bp, including a 286 bp loop, and one direct repeat are shown. Several open reading frames are possible following the sequence in both directions whose ...