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24-450: A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit . The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry , specifically a " pepo ". The word melon derives from Latin melopepo , which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων ( mēlopepōn ), meaning "melon", itself

48-524: A compound of μῆλον ( mēlon ), "apple", treefruit ( of any kind )" and πέπων ( pepōn ), amongst others "a kind of gourd or melon". Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of cantaloupes . Melons were thought to have originated in Africa. However, recent studies suggest a Southwest Asian origin, especially Iran and India ; from there, they gradually began to appear in Europe toward

72-446: A hormonal signal to initiate tendril coiling. This cascade can activate plasma membrane H+-ATPase , which also plays a role in the contact coiling mechanism as a proton pump. This pump activity establishes an electrochemical of H+ ions from inside the cell to the apoplast , which in turn creates an osmotic gradient. This leads to loss of turgor pressure; the differences in cell size due to the loss of turgor pressure in some cells creates

96-470: A standardized suffix for plant family names in modern taxonomy. The genus name comes from 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

120-510: A tendril comes in contact with a neighboring conspecific plant (of the same species) signaling molecules released by the host plant bind to chemoreceptors on the climbing plant’s tendrils. This generates a signal that prevents the thigmotropic pathway and therefore prevents the tendril from coiling around that host. Studies confirming this pathway have been performed on the climbing plant Cayratia japonica . Research demonstrated that when two C. japonica plants were placed in physical contact,

144-409: Is modified from whole inflorescence. The mechanism of tendril coiling begins with circumnutation of the tendril in which it is moving and growing in a circular oscillatory pattern around its axis. Circumnutation is often defined as the first main movement of the tendril, and it serves the purpose of increasing the chance that the plant will come in contact with a support system (physical structure for

168-492: Is not correlated with ontogenetic origin, instead, there are multiple ontogenetic origins. 17 types of tendrils have been identified by their ontogenetic origins and growth pattern, and each type of tendril can be involved more than once within angiosperms. Common fruits and vegetables that have tendrils includes watermelon ( Citrullus lanatus )'s derived from modified stem, pea ( Pisum sativum )'s derived from modified terminal leaflets and common grape vine ( Vitis vinifera )'s

192-530: 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 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

216-494: The canopy in order to receive more sunlight resources and increase the diversification in flowering plants. Tendril is a plant organ that is derived from various morphological structures such as stems, leaves and inflorescences. Even though climbing habits are involved in the angiosperms , gymnosperms , and fern , tendrils are often shown in angiosperms and little in fern. Based on their molecular basis of tendril development, studies showed that tendrils helical growth performance

240-456: The Spanish. Organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH have made an effort to collect and preserve these and other heritage seeds. Melons in genus Cucumis are culinary fruits, and include the majority of culinary melons. All but a handful of culinary melon varieties belong to the species Cucumis melo L. In 2018, world production of melons was 27 million tonnes , led by China with 46% of

264-435: The coiling response. This contractile movement is also influenced by gelatinous fibers, which contract and lignify in response to the thigmotropic signal cascade. Although tendrils twine around hosts based on touch perception , plants have a form of self-discrimination and avoid twining around themselves or neighboring plants of the same species – demonstrating chemotropism based on chemoreception . Once

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288-458: The direction of the support stimulus. Therefore, it was concluded that tendrils are able to change the direction of their circumnutation based on the presence of a support stimulus. The process of circumnutation in plants is not unique to tendril plants, as almost all plant species show circumnutation behaviors. Thigmotropism is the basis of the input signal in the tendril coiling mechanism. For example, pea tendrils have highly sensitive cells in

312-476: The end of tendrils. The tendrils of aerial pitchers are usually coiled in the middle. If the tendril comes into contact with an object for long enough it will usually curl around it, forming a strong anchor point for the pitcher. In this way, the tendrils help to support the growing stem of the plant. Tendrils of Cuscuta , a parasitic plant, are guided by airborne chemicals, and only twine around suitable hosts. Climbing habits in plants support themselves to reach

336-701: The end of the Western Roman Empire . Melons are known to have been grown by the ancient Egyptians. However, recent discoveries of melon seeds dated between 1350 and 1120 BCE in Nuragic sacred wells have shown that melons were first brought to Europe by the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia during the Bronze Age . Melons were among the earliest plants to be domesticated in the Old World and among

360-594: The first crop species brought by westerners to the New World . Early European settlers in the New World are recorded as growing honeydew and casaba melons as early as the 1600s. A number of Native American tribes in New Mexico, including Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Navajo, Santo Domingo and San Felipe, maintain a tradition of growing their own characteristic melon cultivars, derived from melons originally introduced by

384-818: 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 Tendril The earliest and most comprehensive study of tendrils

408-438: 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 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

432-455: The middle. In the garden pea , it is only the terminal leaflets that are modified to become tendrils. In other plants such as the yellow vetch ( Lathyrus aphaca ), the whole leaf is modified to become tendrils while the stipules become enlarged and carry out photosynthesis . Still others use the rachis of a compound leaf as a tendril, such as members of the genus Clematis . The specialised pitcher traps of Nepenthes plants form on

456-458: The surfaces of cell walls that are exposed. These sensitized cells are the ones that initiate the thigmotropic signal, typically as a calcium wave. The primary touch signal induces a signaling cascade of other phytohormones, most notably gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and Jasmonate (JA). In grapevine tendrils, it recently has been shown that GABA can independently promote tendril coiling. It has also been shown that jasmonate phytohormones serve as

480-420: The tendril to coil around). In a 2019 study done by Guerra et al., it was shown that without a support stimulus, in this case a stake in the ground, the tendrils will circumnutate towards a light stimulus. After many attempts to reach a support structure, the tendril will eventually fall to the ground. However, it was found that when a support stimulus is present, the tendril’s circumnutation oscillation occurs in

504-531: The tendrils would not coil around the conspecific plant. Researchers tested this interaction by isolating oxalate crystals from the leaves of a C. japonica plant and coating a stick with the oxalate crystals. The tendrils of C. japonica plants that came in physical contact with the oxalate-coated stick would not coil, confirming that climbing plants use chemoreception for self-discrimination. Self-discrimination may confer an evolutionary advantage for climbing plants to avoid coiling around conspecific plants. This

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528-458: The total (table). Turkey , Iran , and India each produced more than 1 million tonnes. Cucurbitaceae 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

552-469: The tropics and in temperate areas of the world, 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. The name Cucurbitaceae comes to international scientific vocabulary from Neo-Latin , from Cucurbita , the type genus , + -aceae ,

576-467: Was Charles Darwin's monograph On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants , which was originally published in 1865. This work also coined the term circumnutation to describe the motion of growing stems and tendrils seeking supports. Darwin also observed the phenomenon now known as tendril perversion , in which tendrils adopt the shape of two sections of counter-twisted helices with a transition in

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