Taxonomy

  • Cucumis sativus var. hardwickii (wild cucumber)
    • Cucumber has been improved by using accessions of the wild var. hardwickii. Traits such as resistance to nematode (Meloidogyne arenaria and M. javanica) have been transferred from LJ 90430, resulting in the cultivars Lucia, Manteo and Shelby.
    • Cucumis sativus var. hardwickii (top) compared with Cucumis sativus (bottom) see image (JPEG).
  • Cucumis sativus var. sikkimensis (Sikkim cucumber)
    • Large, oblong fruit are also found among cultivars of Cucumis sativus var. sikkimensis Hook. f. (Sikkim cucumber). It has been reclassified as Cucumis sativus var. sativus. These cultivars are grown primarily in mountainous Nepal and India. The Sikkim cucumber see image (JPEG).
  • Cucumis sativus var. xishuangbannanensis (Xishuangbanna gourd)
    • Xishuangbanna gourd, is classified as C. sativus var. xishuangbannanensis Qi & Yuan. Grown by the Hani people of southwestern China. They are mostly unknown outside of eastern Asia. The Xishuangbanna gourd is more closely related to Cucumis sativus var. sativus than to C. s. var. hardwickii.
    • Vines of this variety can be 7 m long, with 3 kg fruit. High provitamin A was transferred to cucumber (light orange mesocarp, orange seedcell) using the ore gene from the Xishuangbanna gourd see image (JPEG).
  • Cucumis hystrix
    • Cucumis hystrix is a wild species of Cucumis that can be crossed with C. sativus to produce an allotetraploid called C. hytivus. Introgression lines were produced by Chen and co-workers that have introduced new traits including disease resistance to cucumber.
    • Resistances include gummy stem blight and downy mildew. C. hystrix offers a way to increase the genetic diversity of cucumber. See hystrix x sativus hybrid (JPEG).
  • Cucumis sativus (Cucumber)
    • Overview
    • Origin and History
      • Cucumber is of Asiatic origin. Cucumis sativus var. hardwickii was first found in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal.
      • Cucumber was found in eastern Iran, and dated to the third millennium BCE.
      • In English translations of the Bible, cucumber and melon are referred to in Numbers 11:5, but probably should have been translated as snake melon and watermelon.
      • Humans brought cucumber to the Mediterranean from India through Iran, Iraq and Turkey in the 6th or 7th centuries. In the early 14th century, cucumber plants were cultivated in England. There, the fruit were known as ‘cowcumbers’. Portuguese explorers subsequently carried cucumber to West Africa.
      • Columbus introduced cucumber to the Haiti in 1494.
    • Taxonomy and Wild Relatives