Cucurbitaceae

Cucurbitaceae Temporal range: Early Paleocene to Recent, 62–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Hodgsonia male plant
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Cucurbitales
Family:	Cucurbitaceae Juss.[1]
Type genus
Cucurbita L.
Tribes and genera
See text.

The Cucurbitaceae (/kjuːˌkɜːrbɪˈteɪsiːˌiː/),^[2] also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species^[3] in 101 genera.^[4] Those most important to humans are the following:^{[citation needed]}

• Cucurbita – squash, pumpkin, zucchini or courgette, some gourds
• Lagenaria – calabash, and others that are inedible
• Citrullus – watermelon (C. lanatus, C. colocynthis) and others
• Cucumis – cucumber (C. sativus), various melons and vines
• Momordica – bitter melon
• Luffa – the common name is also luffa, sometimes spelled loofah (when fully ripened, two species of this fibrous fruit are the source of the loofah scrubbing sponge)
• Cyclanthera – Caigua

The plants in this family are grown around the tropics and in temperate areas, where those with edible fruits were among the earliest cultivated plants in both the Old and New Worlds. The family Cucurbitaceae ranks among the highest of plant families for number and percentage of species used as human food.^[5] The name Cucurbitaceae comes to international scientific vocabulary from Neo-Latin, from Cucurbita, the type genus, + -aceae,^[6] a standardized suffix for plant family names in modern taxonomy. The genus name comes from the Classical Latin word cucurbita, meaning "gourd".