12-428: See text. The Cucurbitaceae ( / k j uː ˌ k ɜːr b ɪ ˈ t eɪ s iː ˌ iː / ), also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in 101 genera . Those of most agricultural, commercial or nutritional value to humans include: The plants in this family are grown around the tropics and in temperate areas of the world, where those with edible fruits were among
24-1044: A leaf pattern similar to the members of the genera Kedrostis , Melothria and Zehneria . The most recent classification of Cucurbitaceae delineates 15 tribes : Modern molecular phylogenetics suggest the following relationships: Alsomitra Bayabusua Hemsleya Gomphogyne Gynostemma Neoalsomitra Fevillea Pteropepon Cyclantheropsis Sicydium Gerrardanthus Zanonia Siolmatra Xerosicyos Actinostemma Indofevillea Baijiania Thladiantha Siraitia Momordica Cogniauxia Telfairia Ampelosicyos Ecballium Bryonia Austrobryonia Nothoalsomitra Hodgsonia Echinocystis Marah Echinopepon Frantzia Cyclanthera Hanburia Sicyos Linnaeosicyos Luffa Trichosanthes Schizopepon Herpetospermum Bambekea Eureiandra Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae )
36-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called
48-499: Is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to
60-485: Is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family
72-497: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Austrobryonia Austrobryonia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to
84-590: The Classical Latin word cucurbita , meaning "gourd". Most of the plants in this family are annual vines , but some are woody lianas , thorny shrubs, or trees ( Dendrosicyos ). Many species have large, yellow or white flowers. The stems are hairy and pentangular. Tendrils are present at 90° to the leaf petioles at nodes. Leaves are exstipulate , alternate, simple palmately lobed or palmately compound. The flowers are unisexual , with male and female flowers on different plants ( dioecious ) or on
96-470: 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. The name Cucurbitaceae comes to international scientific vocabulary from Neo-Latin , from Cucurbita , the type genus , + -aceae , a standardized suffix for plant family names in modern taxonomy. The genus name comes from
108-540: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
120-533: The same plant ( monoecious ). The female flowers have inferior ovaries . The fruit is often a kind of modified berry called a pepo . One of the oldest fossil cucurbits so far is † Cucurbitaciphyllum lobatum from the Paleocene epoch, found at Shirley Canal, Montana . It was described for the first time in 1924 by the paleobotanist Frank Hall Knowlton . The fossil leaf is palmate , trilobed with rounded lobal sinuses and an entire or serrate margin. It has
132-575: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted
SECTION 10
#1732776411742144-549: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
#741258