Cucurbitaceae
Cucumis

Cucumis globosus C.Jeffrey

First published in Kew Bull. 19: 215 (1965)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is SW. Tanzania. It is a tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/158147/762855

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Cucurbitaceae, C. Jeffrey. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1967

Morphology General Habit
Perennial herb with woody tuberous rootstock.
Morphology Stem
Stems creeping to about 2 m., ridged, covered with short recurved scabrid bristles.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves ovate-cordate in outline, very scabrid-punctate above and scabrid-hairy beneath, sinuate-toothed, 53–60 mm. long, 24–45 mm. broad, very deeply palmately 5-lobed; lobes narrowly elliptic, apiculate, with the central much the longest and sometimes ± lobulate laterally; petiole 7–15 mm. long, intensely scabrid with short recurved bristles.
sex Male
Male flowers solitary, on 8 mm. long pedicels; receptacle-tube obconic, 5 mm. long; lobes subulate, erect, 2.5 mm. long; petals yellow, 8 mm. long, 4 mm. broad.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Female flowers unknown. Male flowers solitary, on 8 mm. long pedicels; receptacle-tube obconic, 5 mm. long; lobes subulate, erect, 2.5 mm. long; petals yellow, 8 mm. long, 4 mm. broad.
sex Female
Female flowers unknown.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit shortly and fairly stoutly stalked, globose, 40–50 mm. in diameter, pale green variegated with irregular darker green stripes in the upper part, smooth and glabrous except for scattered very low and obscure bristle-tipped pustules.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds broadly elliptic in outline, somewhat inflated, smooth, not bordered, 8.5 × 5.5 × 3.7 mm.
Habitat
“Grassy secondary growth in dry places”; ± 1800 m.
Distribution
not known elsewhere T7
[FTEA]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0