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Title: CUCUMIS AND CUCUMELLA (CUCURBITACEAE): SPECIMEN LOCALITIES

Author
item Kirkbride, Joseph
item Farr, David

Submitted to: Cucumis and Cucumella (Cucurbitaceae): Specimen Localities
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/15/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The important horticultural crops of cucumbers, melons and gherkins belong to the vascular plant genus Cucumis and its close relative Cucumella in the Cucurbitaceae or squash family. In order to improve and diversify the varieties of melons and cucumbers available in the marketplace, wild plant germplasm must be located and collected. Many of these wild plants occur in places that are remote to the United States such as Angola and other countries in tropical Africa and Asia. This research makes available over the Internet the specific localities where wild plant germplasm of cucumbers, melons and gherkins have been found. These data will guide plant explorers and breeders seeking new germplasm that can be used to produce sweeter and longer lasting melons.

Technical Abstract: This Internet publication is a database of the cucumber and melon specimens available in the major botanical collections of the world. Included are all taxa of the genera Cucumis and Cucumella and 3,889 collections for those taxa. The database can be searched by scientific name, collector, collection number, date of collection, and location of collection, or any combination of these. The specimen information can be retrieved on screen or downloaded as a text file in either a brief format, just scientific name, country of origin, collector, and collection number, or a full format, including scientific name, detailed location with latitude and longitude in most cases, collector, collection number, date of collection, and the institutions of deposit. Therefore detailed distributional information for cucumber and melon taxa can be formulated by taxon, collector, and/or location. This database is for scientists and technicians dealing with cucumbers and melons, such as germplasm curators, agronomists working on improvement, germplasm collectors, and others.