Cucumis melo var. momordica***

Cucumis melo var. momordica (Roxb.) Cogn. in A.& C. DC., Monogr. Phan. 3: 484. 1881; Duthie & Fullar, Field & Garden Crops 2: 50. 1883; C. Momordica Roxb. Fl. Ind. 3:720. 1832.

*** Treated as synonym of Cucumis melo L., Sp. Pl. 1011. 1753.

A much-branched prostrate annual herb, monoecious. Stem and branches scabrid and hispid or setose. Tendrils simple, filiform, scabrid, hispid/ setose, up to 15 cm long. Leaves simple, exstipulate; petiole 6-13 cm long, scabrid and setose; leaf blade 11-16 cm x 12-16 cm, sub orbicular-reniform, deeply cordate at base, sinus truncate, shallowly 3-lobed, denticulate, abaxially scabrid hispid and adaxially scaberulous. Flowers unisexual, actinomorphic, epigynous, small, axillary, solitary or in a fascicle of 2-3. MALE FLOWERS: Yellow, 3.5-4.5 cm across, pedicel 0.6-1 cm long, filiform, hispid. Calyx tube ca. 5 mm long, white villous, lobes 5 mm long, linear, light green. Corolla 5, fused, 2.5-3.5(-4.5) cm across, ca. 1.7 cm long, nearly rotate; tube ca. 8 mm long; lobes 8-9 mm long and 8-11 mm broad, ovate-oblong to broadly ovate or obovate, mucronate (with green succulent tip), yellow, puberulent on adaxial surface; pubescent more prominent on veins on abaxial surface, apex retuse. Stamens 3, free, inserted on corolla tube; filaments free, ca. 2 mm long; anthers ca. 1.5 mm long, anther cells linear, curved or flexuous, connective produced beyond anthers, ca. 1.5 mm long. Pistillode glandular. FEMALE FLOWERS: Solitary axillary, ca. 2.5 cm across and ca. 2 cm long. Pedicel small, hispid or white villous. Calyx and corolla as in male flowers. Staminode cup-like around stigma. Ovary tricarpellary, syncarpous, inferior, ca. 1 cm x 0.5-0.6 cm, ovoid or round, densely white villous (with appressed hairs); style ca. 1.5 mm long; stigmas 3, each bifid, green. Fruit oval or cylindrical, smooth, yellow, 16 cm x 8 cm, when ripe bursts spontaneously, fleshy, mealy and insipid. Seeds numerous, ovate-oblong, 8-10 mm x ca. 2.5 mm.

Flowering and Fruiting: July to October (in rainy season as escape plant)
Common Names: Phut (Punjabi)