Cucumis prophetarum

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordo: Cucurbitales

Familia: Cucurbitaceae
Tribus: Benincaseae
Genus: Cucumis
Subgenus: C. subg. Cucumis
Sectio: C. sect. Aculeatosi
Species: Cucumis prophetarum
Subspecies: C. p. subsp. prophetarum – C. p. subsp. dissectus
Name

Cucumis prophetarum L., 1755.
Homonyms

Cucumis prophetarum Meyer ex Cogn. = Pseudocucumis naudinianus (Sond.) C. Jeffrey
Cucumis prophetarum Wall. = Cucumis callosus (Rottb.) Cogn.

References

Linnaeus, C. 1755. Centuria I. Plantarum. Upsaliae, exc. L.M. Höjer. BHL Reference page. : 1: 33.

Links

Hassler, M. 2019. Cucumis prophetarum. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2019. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2019 Dec 23. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Cucumis prophetarum. Published online. Accessed: Dec 23 2019.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Cucumis prophetarum in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2019 Dec 23. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2019. Cucumis prophetarum. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 23 Dec 2019.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Cucumis prophetarum in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 11 February 2009.

Vernacular names

Cucumis prophetarum is a dioecious and prostrate or climbing perennial vine in the family Cucurbitaceae.[1]
Contents

1 Distribution
2 Description
3 Uses
4 Synonyms
5 See also
6 References

Distribution

Cucumis prophetarum is native to Mauritania east to the Horn of Africa and southwest to Angola, as well as northern South Africa, southern Mozambique, Comoros, and northern Egypt. It is also native to Israel, southern Lebanon, southern Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and northwestern India. It has been introduced to Qatar.[2]
Description

Its stems and leaves are hairy and the leaves are ovate to round in shape and cordate at the bases and measure 2–4 centimeters in length. They have 3–5 blunt-toothed lobes. Male flowers occur in clusters of 2–3 and are rarely solitary; female flowers are always solitary. They have five yellow petals. The fruit is slightly ovoid and is vertically striped and yellow in color when ripe. It measures 3–4 centimeters in length and is covered in spike-like pustules.[3] It grows wild in semi-desert bushland and grassland up to 6594 feet (2010 meters) in elevation, often with acacia trees.[4]
Uses

The fruit has a bitter flavor when raw and is sometimes boiled or pickled and the leaves are cooked and served with a staple.[4] The fruit is eaten across its native range and occasionally cultivated and sold in local markets.[4]

The fruit is also used in folk medicine in Saudi Arabia to treat liver disorders and an extract from it has been proven to contain cytotoxicity against six cancer cell lines.[5] Another extract from the fruit induces an anti-diabetic effect.[6]
Synonyms

This species, Cucumis prophetarum L., has a name that other species may share:

Cucumis prophetarum Mey., a synonym for Citrullus naudinianus
Cucumis prophetarum Wall., a synonym for Cucumis callosus

See also

List of culinary fruits
List of culinary vegetables

References

"cucumis – Encyclopedia of Life". eol.org.
"Cucumis prophetarum L." www.gbif.org.
"Cucumis prophetarum – Wild Gourd". www.flowersofindia.net.
"Cucumis prophetarum – Useful Tropical Plants". tropical.theferns.info.
Alsayari A, Kopel L, Ahmed MS, Soliman HS, Annadurai S, Halaweish FT (October 2018). "Isolation of anticancer constituents from Cucumis prophetarum var. prophetarum through bioassay-guided fractionation". BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 18 (1): 274. doi:10.1186/s12906-018-2295-5. PMC 6178269. PMID 30301463.
Kavishankar, G. B.; Lakshmidevi, N. (15 April 2014). "Anti-diabetic effect of a novel N-Trisaccharide isolated from Cucumis prophetarum on streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced type 2 diabetic rats". Phytomedicine. 21 (5): 624–630. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2013.12.002. PMID 24462215. Retrieved 20 January 2021.