What do you mean by family cucurbitaceae and explain its economic importance ?

Family cucurbitaceae is commonly called as gourd family. It includes 100 genera and 850 species. It is distributed in tropical and sub-tropical areas of would. Few species are found in temperate region (Trichosathes, Sechium etc).

Vegetative Characters

Habit:

Mostly annual weak stemed trailing or decumbent vines climbing by means of tendrils, herbaceous in nature some are perrenial.

Acanthosicyos is a thorny leafless shrub of South Africa, while debdrosicyos is a soft wooded tree of Arabian cast. In India most of the climbers are cultivated for vegetable.

Root:

Tap root, branched sometimes modified into monoliform root (as in momordica). In acanthosiryos root may attain 15 meters length and thickened to store food. Adventious roots may arise from axil of leaf in trailing forms.

Stem:

Herbaceous, climbing by tendril, angular with ridges and furrows, fine angled in outline branched, pubescent (hairy) may contain juicy sap. Mostly hollow.

Leaf:

Alternate, broad, usually simple, petiolate. Lamina deeply lobed or incises appearing palmate, venation palmate reticulate. Often modified into tendrils. Hairs may present on petiole, petiole may solid or hollow.

Floral characters:

Inflorescence:

Solitary, large showy or sometimes flowers in racemes o r cymes or in panicles. Usually solitary axillary. Male or female flowers may borne on same plant or on different plant.

Flower:

Regular, actinomorphic, unisexual, often bisexual, showy, large, bracteolate, pdeicellate, epigynous. White or yellow in color.

Male Flower:

Usually produced in large numbers in compared to female flowers, companulate.

i) Calyx: Sepals five, gamosepalous pointed often petaloid, imbricate or quincancial.

ii) Corolla: Petals 5, gamopetalous, in momordiea polypetalous but connate at base. Colored showy, often deeply lobed. Valvet or imbricate aestivation. Sometimes inserted in calyx tube when free.

iii) Androecium: Usually stamens five in number, free or combined to form central column syngenesious, anthers bilobed. But variation found in the stamen of different genera. In cucurbita authors much curved and united in central column called synandrium. Filamenit free and short anthers basifixed dehiscence by logitydinal splitting. Anther lobes twisted lile transverse or longitudinal ‘S’.

iv) Gynoecium: Absent in male flowers.

v) Fruit: Absent.

Female flower:

Female flowers are fewer than the male flowers and comparatively larger in size.

Calyx: Sepals 5, united calyx tube adnate to ovary or often produced beyond it.

Corolla: Petals five free or connate at base or gamopetalous, imbricate or valvet.

Androecium: Absent or reduced to rudiments of staminodes.

Gynoecium: Tricarpellary, syncarpous, interior ovary, unilocular, but often the placenta intrude far into the chamber of the ovary making falsely trilocular. Style short, stigm trifid.

Fruit: A soft fleshy berry typically called as pepo.

Seeds: Exalbminous, nonedospermic, many.

Economic Importance of the Family:

Family cucurbitaceae has long played important role in economic affairs of man. The genera included in the family are of food, medicinal as well as useful for other purposes. Economic value of the family is out lined below.

i) The hard dried shell or woody pericarp of species lagenaria ualgaris in different shape and form make excellent flasks primitive vessels and utensils. It also used as blow pipe of snake charmer, drum for tambura, soraja etc in making musical instrument.

ii) Dried fibrous network of vascular tissue in fruit of luffa when set free by retting away after tissues affords the well known fibrous luffa sponge as bath sponge or disch cloth. These are two species in this concern i.e. Luffa cylindrica and luffa aegyptiaca.

iii) Vegetable : Majority of species used as vegetables for common use in kitchen viz legenaria uulgaris(law), cucurbita pepo, cucuribita maxima(pumpkin), C. moschata, luffa aegyptiaca, momordica charantia(kalara).

iv) Fruits : Raw fruits directly eaten as fruit in riped or unriped condition. These includes – cucumis melo(kharbooza), C sativus(kakudi), citrulus vulgaris (tarbhuja) etc.

v) Ornamental : Certain vines of the family grown in gardens and walls for ornamental purpose.

vi) Medicinal : Some species of family possess high medicinal value. Majority of them are laxatives, some are poisonous and some produce useful drugs.

Citrullus colocynthesis – pulp of which is purgative and official drug used in dropsy intestinal disorders etc.

Trichosanthers, dioica – Pulp of fruit mixed with coconut oil used to cure ear itch root is used in inflammation of lungs in cattles.

Ecballium elaterium yields elaterium

Bryonia dioica yields medicine used for piles asthma and rhematism and powerful remedy for snake bite.

Botanical names of five useful plants:

1. Luffa aegyptiaca – (Ghia tori) – Bath sponge

2. Cucurbita maxima – Vegetable

3. Cucumis sativus – Fruit and vegetable

4. Citrullus vulgaris – Watermelon used as fruit in summer.

5. Bryonia indica (Bryony) – Medicinal.