Cucurbita
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
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Family
Cucurbitaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Herbaceous vines. annual, monoecious, creeping or climbing by axillary tendrils; stems sulcate, producing watery latex; tendrils axillary, with 2-5 branches. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blades subentire, rounded or deeply lobed; stipules absent. Flowers unisexual, actinomorphic, solitary, the staminate flowers also in axillary fascicles; calyx campanulate, rarely cylindrical, with (4-)5(-7) minute lobes; corolla campanulate, deeply lobed; stamens 3, the filaments fleshy, inserted at the base of the floral receptacle, the anthers linear, connate into a cylindrical column; ovary inferior, 3-5-locular, with numerous horizontal ovules, the style simple, short, with 3-5 stigmatic branches, bilobed or bifurcate. Fruit a fleshy, fibrous, or woody berry, large; seeds numerous, elliptical. A New World genus of about 30 species, some of which are widely cultivated for their edible fruits.