Pumpkin.

Nutritional value and medicinal properties.
Pumpkin fruits are extremely healthy. Their pulp is rich in sugars, carotene, vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, E, PP. Vitamin T has been found in pumpkin, which helps to accelerate metabolic processes in the body - intensive assimilation of meat and other heavy foods.
The pulp of pumpkin fruits contains salts of phosphoric acid, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and in terms of iron, pumpkin is a champion among vegetables. It is especially rich in potassium and pectin, which prevent inflammation of the large intestine.
Experts claim that frequent consumption of pumpkin porridge has a wonderful effect on hypertension, obesity and metabolic disorders. For insomnia, it has long been recommended to drink pumpkin juice or pumpkin broth with honey at night.
Its seeds contain up to 52% oil and up to 28% protein, a lot of zinc salts and vitamin E, so they are more nutritious and healthier than sunflower seeds. On the basis of pumpkin oil, a pumpkinol preparation has been created that stimulates the liver. Pumpkin seeds are a harmless anthelmintic, and the taste of the seeds' nucleoli competes with nuts.
Pumpkin improves digestion, therefore it is included in dietary diets for obesity, decreased gallbladder function, edema caused by cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, gout, kidney disease, and intestinal inflammation.
Raw pumpkin is added to salads. Soups, cereals, pie fillings are prepared from it, as well as pickled.

Large pumpkin the most cold-resistant, but later ripening than hard-barked. The stem of the plant is cylindrical. The fruits are large in size, long-term keeping quality, high taste.
qualities and many seeds (100-300 g). Seeds are milky white, smooth, with an indistinct rim along the edges.

Hard bark gourd well adapted to sudden temperature fluctuations. Its stem is sharply faceted, furrowed. Fruits are small, with woody bark and prickly subulate pubescence. Seeds are small and medium, yellowish, with a rim of the same color.

Butternut squash the most thermophilic and late maturing, mostly long-leaved, without bush forms. The stem is rounded-cut. Fruits are small and medium, elongated, narrowed in the middle. The pulp is orange, with a nutmeg aroma. Seeds are elongated, with a twisted or fleecy rim, the color of which is darker than the color of the seed.
In addition to the listed species, amateur vegetable growers grow
dining room, fodder, gymnosperms (grade "Cinderella"), decorative and dish pumpkins ... In terms of biological characteristics, they are similar to the above.

Pumpkin is a warm and light-loving culture, its seeds begin to germinate at 13 ° C, and in some varieties at 10÷ 12 ° C. Normal plant growth occurs at a temperature of 20÷ 30 ° C. A drop in temperature to 14 ° C and below, especially at night, has a dramatic effect on fruit formation, since fruits mainly grow at night. The period from germination to fruit ripening 100÷ 160 days. With thickening and shading, the plants are inhibited, the ripening of fruits is delayed, the yield and taste are reduced. Plants need the most intense light during flowering and fruit ripening.

Due to its powerful root system, pumpkin is a more drought-resistant crop, but responds well to watering, especially during periods of root formation and intensive fruit growth. Especially hygrophilous and thermophilic butternut squash.

The soil... The area for sowing pumpkin should be well warmed up, with light fertile soils, not shaded. Any predecessor other than cucumber. The soil is dug in the fall to a depth of 25÷ 30cm, manure or humus is introduced for digging at the rate of 10÷ 20kg per 1m 2. Superphosphate is added in the spring - 40÷ 60g, potassium nitrate 30÷ 40g and ammonium nitrate 10 ÷ 15g per 1m 2. Potash fertilizer can be replaced with double the amount of wood ash. Fertilizers can be applied before sowing in the hole: 2÷ 3kg of humus, 6g of superphosphate and 3g each of potassium and ammonium nitrate.

Growing... Sowing seeds under film shelters is carried out 10- May 15, disembarkation of seedlings - 15- May 20, outdoors - 25 respectively- May 30 and 8 - 12 June. Pumpkin seeds remain viable for up to 10 years. Sowing with seeds can be done earlier - 18-25 May, since pumpkin is more cold-resistant than cucumbers. Sow seeds in holes of 2÷ 3pcs. to a depth of 3 h 5cm. The distance between the holes for climbing pumpkin 140 * 70 or 140 * 140, for bush 90 * 90 or 100 * 100cm. When the first true leaf appears, the plants are thinned out, one plant is left in the hole. Seedlings are grown in pots. Properly prepared seedlings must be seasoned and healthy, havelow stocky stem with short internodes and two to three well-developed true leaves. During the growing season, the plants are fed 2 times. Particularly effective feeding in phase 2÷ 3 leaves and before flowering. Top dressing with solutions of slurry (1: 1) and chicken droppings (1:15- twenty). During the growing season, lateral shoots are pinched off the pumpkin, and when 5- 7 fruits, then the top of the stem, leaving above the fruit 4- 5 leaves. The pumpkin is watered abundantly, 1÷ 2 buckets of water under the bush, since the optimum soil moisture for it is 70- 80%. Watering frequency depends on weather conditions.

Growing on a compost heap.
For growing pumpkins, you can build a special greenhouse-house. The base of the greenhouse is made of boards and is a box 1.5 m wide, 2.5 m long and 45 cm high.In the middle, at a height of 70 cm, a crossbar is made to throw a film on the greenhouse in spring time... Along the perimeter, beams 2 m high are placed vertically, which look like a trellis (vertical culture).
In the fall, you need to take care of a warm bedding for the pumpkin. The basis is made up of tops, leaves, sawdust, crushed bark, kitchen waste, etc. All this mass should fill the greenhouse by about 2/3, sprinkle it with lime or ash on top and leave it in this form for the winter.
In the spring, at the first opportunity, the greenhouse is almost filled with fresh manure, sprinkling it with sawdust. Then prepare the holes for pumpkin plants. In the greenhouse described above, 12 holes with a diameter of about 50 cm are made. 1.5 buckets of humus are poured into each. Now it remains to cover the entire surface with an old film and very carefullypress down with stones not only at the edges, but also in the middle. Thus, we increase the temperature in the area of ​​the pumpkin root system, which is extremely important for all melons and gourds. The soil under the film and stones heats up quite well and is warm enough by the time the seedlings are planted. In addition, the manure under the pumpkin ripens well, as it is constantly moistened and covered with the leaves of the pumpkin itself.

Vertical culture
In small areas, pumpkin is successfully grown on a vertical trellis along the south side of the house or fence. This method works well for small-fruited or decorative species pumpkins. To do this, dig holes at a distance of 50 cm from each other, fill them with manure mixed with the ground, and watered with a solution of potassium permanganate. First option: A stake is placed near each plant and a cord is tied to it, the other end of which is fixed at the eaves of the roof or on top of the fence. A whip is thrown along the cord. On each plant, two ovaries are left, the growth points are pinched, the lateral shoots without fruit are cut out, the lower lateral shoots are pruned.
Another option: At the time of removing the covering material, the pumpkin lashes must be tied to the vertical crossbars, carefully distributing them at the same distance from each other. In the future, all the growing lashes must be removed from the thickets and brought out in the sun. As a result, pumpkins give full flowers.
When the plants are completely entwined around the trellises, the sight of green leaves, extraordinary flowers and bright yellow fruits that resemble melons make a lasting impression. This will probably be the most beautiful corner of your garden.

Harvest... The pumpkin is also harvested in early September, before the onset of frost. Signs of fruit ripeness are drying and corking of the stalk (it is cut off together with the fruit), a well-marked bark pattern and its hardening. Well-ripened, healthy fruits are dried, warmed up in the sun for 8÷ 10 days and put in storage.

For long-term storage, fruits of maturing varieties containing a lot of starch are suitable. During storage, the starch is hydrolyzed, as a result, the amount of soluble sugars increases and the fruits become sweeter. Mandatory conditions for long-term storage of pumpkin - good ventilation and protection from sunlight... Therefore its better
store in total in ventilated rooms at a temperature of 3 ... 8 ° C and a relative humidity of 60-75%. The fruits are stacked in one row with the stalk up so that they do not come into contact with each other. The pumpkin can be placed in the boxes in rows, layering with straw. Fruits of some varieties do not spoil for a long time in a dark place at room temperature.

Pumpkin varieties:
Among the zoned assortment for the Non-Black Earth Zone, the following varieties are recommended:

early ripening - Altai 47, XXXXryuchekutskaya 27, Gribovskaya bush 189, Ufa, Medical, Smile, Freckle.

mid-early - Russian woman, Baby.

medium ripe - Donskaya, Hybrid 72, Large-fruited 1, Record, Troyanda, Khutoryanka, Almond 35, Mozoleevskaya 49.

late maturing - Vitamin, Gribovskaya winter, Winter sweet, Muscat, Winter dining room 5.

amateur varieties - Pineapple, Honey and others.

Do not rely on "southerners" Although, compared to its relative, cucumber, pumpkin is less demanding on heat, its southern origin makes itself felt. During our short and not always hot summer, and most importantly, due toOn cool nights that come after August 10, many foreign and southern pumpkin varieties in the Middle Lane do not have time to ripen and gain enough nutrients and healing substances.
Most pumpkin varieties that have proven themselves perfectly somewhere in the Krasnodar Territory, in the Rostov, Belgorod or Kursk regions, with rare exceptions, are very mediocre in taste. At the same time, the long and well-known Gribovskaya Kustovaya and Gribovskaya Zimnyaya and in the south ripen as well as in the Urals. Gribovskaya Zimnaya is especially successful: it is excellently preserved for several months innormal room conditions, and over time it becomes tastier and sweeter, since the starch contained in the pulp turns into sugar.

Healing properties of pumpkin.

The therapeutic effect of eating pumpkin pulp is provided by such essential elements as potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus and vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B12, PP, as well as vitamin K, which is almost absent in other vegetables and fruits. Lack of vitamin K in the body causes bleeding from the nose, gums and, which is especially dangerous, from internal organs, including the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, the pulp of pumpkin contains a lot of pectins - water-soluble dietary fiber that enhance the motor functions of the intestine, remove radionuclides from the body and promote rapid scarring of ulcers. The combination of biologically active substances contained in it promotes the elimination of cholesterol and improves water and salt metabolism, therefore it is recommended in any form for diseases of the cardiovascular system, in particular for atherosclerosis and edema caused by heart failure. And with anemia and depletion of the body, it is preferable to eat raw pumpkin pulp, which is rich in iron.

A good effect is observed in the treatment of diseases of the digestive system with this vegetable. With inflammation and cirrhosis of the liver, chronic hepatitis and hepatic edema, along with raw pulp, patients are shown pumpkin porridge with rice, millet or semolina. With colitis, accompanied by constipation, as well as with vomiting at night, you should drink half a glass of pumpkin juice.

Pumpkin juice and pulp are used in food for the prevention of caries.

For pyelonephritis, acute and chronic cystitis, urate stones, as well as for diabetes and gout, pumpkin porridge is very useful. The pumpkin itself is a good diuretic.

In case of kidney and bladder diseases, medicinal "milk" is prepared from pumpkin and hemp seeds: 1 cup of each seed is ground in a ceramic vessel, gradually adding 3 cups of boiling water, then filtered and squeezed out of the remainder. The resulting "milk" is drunk during the day. This remedy is especially indicated in cases where the urine contains blood or when urination is delayed due to spasms. If "milk" is boring, it can be taken with steep unsalted buckwheat porridge, sweetened with sugar or honey.

To strengthen the muscles of the bladder and normalize its functions, it is recommended to eat 2-3 tablespoons of peeled pumpkin seeds daily. They can also be used as a concomitant agent in the treatment of prostate diseases.

Due to its low calorie content, pumpkin is very useful for obesity.

Pumpkin juice or raw pulp is used for colds and tuberculosis. And pumpkin porridge helps to lower the temperature in case of bronchitis.

Fresh gruel from pumpkin pulp is applied to the affected areas for eczema and burns, rashes and acne. It also accelerates the maturation of boils and abscesses. People who, due to their profession, have to stand a lot during the day, it is recommended to apply pumpkin gruel in the evening to relieve pain in the feet.

For insomnia at night, you can take 1/3 cup of pumpkin broth with honey.

Pumpkin seed gourd. Dried seeds are cleaned of hard peel, leaving a thin green shell, grind in a mortar, adding them in small portions and slowly adding 10-15 drops of water. For 300 g of seeds - up to 50-60 ml of water. To give the porridge a pleasant taste, you can put 10-15 g of honey or jam into it. Take porridge on an empty stomach in a teaspoon for an hour. After 3 hours, you need to take a laxative (castor oil is not recommended), and then after half an hour give an enema. The dose for adults is 300 g of seeds, for children 10-12 years old - 150 g, for children 5-7 years old - 100 g, 3-4 years old - 75 g, 2-3 years old - 30-50 g.

A decoction of pumpkin seeds. 250 g of dry unrefined seeds are highly crushed. Add 500 ml of water to the crushed seeds and incubate for 2 hours on light heat in a water bath, without bringing the broth to a boil. Then it is wrung out, cooled for 10 minutes, filtered and the resulting oily film is removed. Add 10-15 g of honey or jam to the broth. Take 1 tablespoon for an hour. After 2 hours, they drink a saline laxative. Adults prepare a decoction of 500 g of seeds, children under 10 years old - 300 g, 5-7 years old - 200 g, up to 5 years old - 100-150 g.

Pumpkin seed emulsion. 150 g of peeled seeds are ground in a mortar with the gradual addition of 20-30 drops of water, bringing the total volume to 450 ml. You can add 10-15 g of honey or jam to the finished emulsion. Then they drink 1 tablespoon for an hour. After 2 hours, take a saline laxative. The dose for adults is 400-450 ml.

All funds are non-toxic, well tolerated and have no contraindications. The course of treatment can be repeated several times at intervals of 2-3 days.

For the treatment to be successful, you need to properly prepare for it. On the day before the treatment, mashed and liquid food is eaten - soups, liquid cereals, vegetable purees, minced meat, jelly, yogurt, as well as white stale bread. In the evening - a light dinner. At night, you should take laxative salt: adults - 25-30 g, children - depending on age. The next day, in the morning, they put a cleansing enema and on an empty stomach take any drug from pumpkin seeds in the above doses. After 2-3 hours, a saline laxative is given - 40-50 g for an adult. Eating is allowed after 1-2 hours.

From fruit crops to the pumpkin family ( Cucurbitaceae) include: cucumber ( Cucumis sativus L.), large-fruited pumpkin ( Cucurbita maxima Duch.), Hard pumpkin, or table ( Cucurbita pepo L.), butternut squash ( Cucurbita moschata Duch.), Common watermelon ( Citrullus vulgaris Schrad.) And melon ( Cucumis melo L.). All these plants are annuals with dioecious flowers... Among pumpkin vegetable plants, according to the peculiarities of agricultural technology, watermelon and melon are distinguished into a separate group of melons.

Cucumber... Plant demanding heat and moisture. The homeland of cucumber is the tropical regions of India. The main stem (lash) is pentahedral, reaching a length of 0.5 to 2 meters or more. On the lashes of the first order, staminate (male) flowers are usually formed, on the lashes of the second and subsequent orders, the percentage of pistillate (female) flowers that bear fruit increases. Female flowers bloom 2-5 days after male ones. Male flowers are located in the axils of the leaves of 5-7 pieces, forming an inflorescence - a scutellum, female flowers are mostly single.

The fruit of a cucumber is a false berry (pumpkin) with 3 to 5 seed chambers (Fig. 13). A cucumber develops well at a temperature of 20-25 °. Young, unripe fruits, the so-called greens, are used for food, which appear 8-12 days after the beginning of flowering (technical ripeness). The fruit in which mature seeds have formed is called the testis (biological ripeness). From sowing to the beginning of fruiting, 32-70 days pass, fruiting lasts 30-40 days.

The root system consists of a main root and numerous lateral roots located horizontally in the surface layer of the soil.

On the stem, adventitious roots may form in the leaf sinuses. Stems are long, branching, creeping, with antennae. The leaves are petiolar, lobedly incised or whole (Fig. 14).

Pumpkin... The homeland of the pumpkin is Central and South America. In culture, pumpkin is represented by three types: large-fruited, nutmeg and hard bark. According to the method of culture, ripening time and consumption, the hard-bore pumpkin is divided into winter melons and summer vegetables. Vegetable pumpkin is represented by the following bush forms: zucchini, squash, kruknek. Botanical differences between pumpkins are quite characteristic and make it relatively easy to identify certain types and varieties (fig. 15). Large-fruited pumpkin- herbaceous plant with powerful lashes. The lashes are creeping, long, rounded. The leaves are large, erect, with long petioles, the petioles are hollow, heavily pubescent. Flowers are dioecious. Fruits are very large, usually monochromatic, smooth or slightly ribbed. The bark of the fruit is soft, easy to cut with a knife. The pulp is quite dense, medium sugar. Hard-bark pumpkin (dining room) It is distinguished by a strong grooving of the stem and leaf petioles, as well as the ruggedness of the leaf blades. The pubescence of the lashes and leaves is very hard and coarse. Fruits are medium in size, firm, with a bright pattern. The pulp is dense, sugary. Pumpkin nutmeg differs in elongated cylindrical fruits with an interception in the middle. Fruit pulp is medium-dense, good taste. This species is thermophilic, with a long growing season. Rice. 15 - Types and varieties of pumpkins: 1 - large-fruited; 2 - turban; 3 - nutmeg; 4 - firm (canteen); 5 - zucchini; 6 - patisson; 7- crooknek. Zucchini It is similar in its characteristics to the table pumpkin, differing only in the bush form of plants that do not form whips, and in the elongated, cylindrical fruits of white, cream or green color. They eat greens 8-12 days old with a length of 20-25 cm. last years a new intense type of zucchini has become widespread - zucchini. His the nutritional value due to the presence in the pulp of the fruit of easily digestible carbohydrates, carotene, vitamins C, B 1, B 2, PP. Among the vegetable crops of the pumpkin family, squash is the most cold-resistant crop. Squash differs from the zucchini plate, disc-bell-shaped, rounded-flattened shape of the fruit. The color of the fruit is white, cream or light green. The flesh is white and denser than that of a vegetable marrow. A 2-5-day ovary with a diameter of up to 8-10 cm is used for food. Fruits are eaten fried and stewed, they are salted and pickled. Kruknek differs from other varieties in the shape of the fruit - bent in the form of a gooseneck (in English kruknek - a crooked neck). Stem and leaf petioles are faceted with hard pubescence. The fruits are formed predominantly on the main stem. Young unripe fruits are fried, pickled, stuffed, canned. Watermelon- an annual herb with creeping liana-like shoots, historically adapted to arid and hot steppe regions. South Africa is considered the birthplace of watermelon. Taproot, highly branched, reaches a depth of 3-5 m. The stem is a creeping lash with lateral thin lashes of the second and third orders. The leaves are alternate, deeply twice dissected (which distinguishes watermelon from other pumpkin seeds), with elongated-rounded blades. Leaves and stems are covered with dense pubescence and waxy bloom. The fruit (multi-seeded false berry) is large, often spherical, covered with a dense shell, the surface of which is distinguished by a varied dark green, green or green-white pattern. The interior of the fetus, the largest in volume, is filled with overgrown juicy placentas with seeds attached to them. Juicy red pulp of different density.

PUMPKIN family
(CUCURBITACEAE)

PUMPKIN family (CUCURBITACEAE) This family includes 130 genera and about 900 species, growing mainly in tropical and subtropical regions from rainforests to deserts. Africa is especially rich in wild-growing pumpkin seeds, as well as Asia and America. In temperate latitudes, representatives of this family are relatively few. Pumpkin annuals or perennials, climbing or creeping grasses, less often shrubs, with alternate, palmate or pinnate (less often separate) or simple leaves. Most members of the family are equipped with antennae, which are modified shoots. Flowers are usually unisexual, mono- or dioecious, rarely bisexual, actinomorphic, single or collected in axillary inflorescences - bunches, brushes, panicles, umbrellas. The perianth, together with the base of the filaments, forms a flower tube adherent to the ovary; the calyx is five-lobed. Corolla spliced, five-lobed or five-part (up to dissected), yellow or white, less often greenish or red. Stamens 2-3-5, very rarely 2, more often 5, of which usually 4 are fused in pairs; sometimes all filaments or anthers of all stamens grow together. Gynoecium consists of 3, rarely 5 or 4 carpels; inferior ovary (sometimes semi-inferior), more often three-celled, with numerous ovules in each nest; column with thickened fleshy stigmas.

Pumpkin plants are mainly insect pollinated. Large, well-developed nectaries filled with very sweet nectar have such a structure that they are accessible to everyone. Therefore, pumpkin flowers are visited by about 150 species of insects. The flowers of many species do not have a strong aroma and lure pollinators either with large bright yellow corollas (like pumpkin, watermelon, cucumber, etc.), or their petals have the ability to reflect ultraviolet rays invisible to our eyes. The main pollinators of cucurbits are bees (especially the honey bee) and steppe ants, as well as wasps and bumblebees. Insects visit male flowers more often, since pollen serves as an excellent food for insects; more than a hundred nutrients, including proteins, fats and many vitamins. The overwhelming majority of members of the family have fruits similar in structure to a berry, but very peculiar, called "pumpkin". Pumpkin, watermelon, melon and cucumber are classic examples of this type of fruit. In pumpkin seeds, sometimes some of the most ripe and viable seeds germinate inside the fruit. As a result, when an overripe fruit cracks, not only seeds fall out of it, but also fully developed seedlings, the roots of which quickly penetrate into loose soil and take root. The most modern classification of the pumpkin family belongs to the English botanist C. Jeffrey (1980). According to this classification, the family is divided into two subfamilies and 8 tribes.

The large subfamily of cucurbits (Gucurbitoideae) contains 7 tribes, including 110 genera. One of the most primitive representatives of the pumpkin subfamily is the genus Telfairia, belonging to the Joliffieae tribe. The genera Momordica and Thladiantha belong to the same tribe. The paleotropic genus Momordica includes about 45 species, most of which are annual climbing vines with a thin stem and long-petiolate leaves, cultivated in tropical countries of Asia. In the genus Tladiant, there are about 15 species that grow in East and Southeast Asia.

Another tribe (Benincaseae tribe) includes the genera Acanthosicyos (2 species), mad cucumber (Ecballium, monotypic genus), watermelon (Citrullus) and others. Acanthositsios is a typical desert plant with spiny tendrils and a thick, sometimes very long root. Among other genera of the same tribe, first of all, the watermelon (Citrullus) should be mentioned. These are annual or perennial pubescent creeping grasses with dissected leaves. Flowers are large, single, unisexual or bisexual; sepals and their petals grow together at the base. Corolla yellow, stamens 5. Stigma three-lobed, ovary three-celled. The fruit is a multi-seeded juicy pumpkin with flat seeds. Watermelon is common in tropical and subtropical regions of the globe. The genus includes 3 species: edible watermelon, colocynth, beanless watermelon, whose range is limited to the Namib Desert in South-West Africa. The antennae of this plant are completely reduced. This tribe, in addition to watermelon, includes the genera Bryonia, Lagenaria, or Gourmet (Lagenaria), Benincasa and some others. The genus perestusen includes 12 species that grow on the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, Europe, Western and Central Asia. These climbing perennial tall plants can be found in the Caucasus and Central Asia among shrubs, on forest edges, in ravines, as well as weeds near hedges and walls. The antennae of the treads are especially sensitive to the touch of solid objects, causing them to be very fast growth and bending towards the stimulus. In a relatively short time, the antennae tightly wrap around the support, reliably holding the heavy weight of the plant in weight. Small inconspicuous perestroop flowers, collected in sparse inflorescences, hardly stand out against the background of leaves and smell very weak, however, insects willingly visit them, attracted by the ultraviolet pattern of the corolla, invisible to our eye. In the pumpkin family, only in representatives of this genus the fruit is a real berry. Numerous small footfall seeds are covered in tough and sturdy armor. The embryo of the seed that has passed through the digestive tract of the bird remains intact and capable of germination. Overripe perestroke berries are crushed at the slightest touch, and the seeds stick with mucus to the skin of the animal that touches them, thus spreading too. Some species of the genus are poisonous plants, some are used in a number of countries as medicinal. Berries and roots containing glycosides bryonin and brionidine are especially poisonous.

The tribe pumpkin (Cucurbiteae) includes 12 genera, including the genus pumpkin (Cucurbita), numbering about 20 species, wildly growing exclusively in America. Some of them have long been introduced into culture. To date, there are a huge number of varieties of food, feed and decorative pumpkins. Representatives of the genus - perennial or annual herbaceous plants with a rounded or faceted stem, often extended, sometimes climbing. The genus Luffa, which has much in common with the next tribe, Cyclanthereae, occupies a somewhat isolated position in the cucurbitaceous tribe. There are 5 species in the genus.

The Cyclanthereae tribe includes 12 genera, growing mainly in the tropical and subtropical zones. In all representatives of these genera, staminate filaments are fused, fruits are prickly, often opening. An example is the large American genus Echinocystis, which unites about 15 species, with white small monoecious flowers. Another interesting genus of the tribe is the cyclantera (Cyclanthera), which includes about 15 species. They all grow in Central and Tropical South America. It's herbaceous climbing plants with a pubescent stem and five- to seven-lobed leaves. Yellow, green or white flowers without nectaries. therefore, plants are mainly wind-pollinated. Ripe fruits are suddenly opened by two valves, each of which bends back with force. As a result, the seeds are scattered over fairly long distances. Tribe sitsiosovye (Sicyoeae) is characterized by female flowers with a single, less often three-celled ovary; stamens of male flowers are accrete, with sinuous anthers. The tribe includes 6 genera, of which the most interesting are Sicyos and Sechium. The genus sitsios includes about 15 species native to the Hawaiian Islands, Polynesia, Australia and tropical America. Most of them are liana-shaped annual grasses with alternate, slightly lobed or angular thin leaves. The genus Schizopepon, forming a separate tribe Schizopeponeae, has only 5 species, distributed from North India to East Asia.

The Trichosaiitheae tribe includes 10 genera. They are all characterized by long-tubular flowers with fringed or whole petals. Fruits are cylindrical or triangular, often non-opening or opening into three equal parts. The most famous genus is Trichosanthes, which includes about 15 species distributed in Southeast Asia and Australia. The morphological structure of these plants is common for most pumpkin plants - liana-like appearance, wide lobed leaves, unisexual flowers; males are collected in a sparse brush, and females are solitary. Often the petals are spirally bent inward, which is why the long-tubular flowers take on a somewhat unusual appearance. Unripe fruits are edible, so some of these species have been introduced into cultivation. In addition, ripe fruits are often very spectacular, which, together with the abundant lush green leaves, makes the plants very decorative. The monotypic Indo-Malaysian genus Hodgsonia (Hodgsonia) is also interesting.

The Melothrieae tribe includes 34 genera, including the cucumber genus (Cucumis), represented by more than 25 species, distributed mainly in Africa. Only a few species are found in Asia. A number of species are cultivated as food plants for the sake of edible fruits. Among other genera of the tribe, there are interesting genera of Corallocarpus, Melothria and Kedrostis. The genus cedrostis (about 35 species) is widespread in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Madagascar, tropical Asia and Malesia. In the steppes South Africa often you can find liana-like, densely pubescent, gray-green, herbaceous plants creeping on the ground, belonging to the genus Kedrostis.

The subfamily Zanonioideae includes 18 genera, which are combined into one tribe. Most of the plants of this subfamily live in countries of the tropical and subtropical zones. The monotypic Iido-Malaysian genus Zanonia most fully characterizes the entire subfamily. Its flowers are dioecious with two or three-celled ovary; fruits - hairy club-shaped capsules, when ripe open with a lid, scattering light winged flattened seeds, which are spread by the wind over long distances. The genus Actinostemma (Actinostemma), numbering about 6 species, is distributed in East Asia and the Himalayas. All of them are perennial herbaceous vines with climbing stems. One of the species is found within Russia.

Hello dear friends! Even people far from science are well aware of such a botanical family as Pumpkin, because the representatives of this family are plants that are familiar to every person from childhood.

The history of human civilization owes much to vegetable pumpkin crops: in the Old World, in pre-Columbian America, and on various oceanic islands, they were used as one of the essential elements food, in addition - as a medicine, as well as for the manufacture of dishes and even musical instruments, toys.

Originally from the warm tropics and subtropics, the Pumpkin family gradually moved to more northern regions as truck farming developed. With the advent of capital greenhouses, it became possible to cultivate some tropical vegetables even in the Far North.

Traditional cultures

What plants belong to the pumpkin plant botanical family? First of all, vegetables familiar to us, widely cultivated in vegetable gardens - pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini (including zucchini), squash.

In addition, melons, watermelons, are allocated in a special group. Sometimes crooknek is also grown - a special kind of pumpkin, more like a squash (with curved warty fruits). Original decorative pumpkins are in great fashion.

Exotics

The list of useful representatives of the pumpkin would not be complete without mentioning the more exotic members of the family. They can be successfully grown in our gardens and summer cottages: in warm regions - even by direct sowing in open ground, in more northern regions - through seedlings and in greenhouses.

These are the original herbaceous vines, which are usually planted for decorative purposes, although they are all edible to some extent.

Especially interesting are such as

• (distinguish between bottle and log-shaped) - one of the fastest growing,

• edible cyclanter (Peruvian cucumber) and exploding cyclanter,
• squirting cucumber,
• chayote (Mexican cucumber),
• (horned cucumber, aka Antillean cucumber, watermelon cucumber),
• (Indian pomegranate),
• trichozant (Japanese is especially interesting),
• (wax gourd).

Enthusiasts also cultivate the Armenian cucumber (snake melon), various varieties of cucumber, the “lemon” cucumber, the Crystal Apple, and other fancy vegetables of the numerous pumpkin family.

It is impossible not to mention another original pumpkin culture - Luffa. Its unripe fruits are eaten, and those that have reached biological ripeness are digested, obtaining excellent fibrous sponges, appreciated for their naturalness and excellent massage properties.

Aggressor - Red Cucumber

In the original natural environment various plants of the Pumpkin family are annual and perennial. In perennial species, special tubers are often formed in the underground part. On our land, we grow all pumpkin seeds as annuals. But there is one unusual exception.

The Far East is the homeland of the northernmost representative of the family, (otherwise called red cucumber), the tubers of which are able to overwinter in northern latitudes.

This is a real aggressor, the underground part of which grows rapidly and captures large living spaces.

It is very easy to bring such a miracle into the garden, but getting rid of it is not easy. True, the tladiant is very decorative, looks great on trellises and near walls well-lit by the sun.

Every year from overwintered underground nodules grow powerful herbaceous vines, often 3 or even 6 meters long, densely covered with pubescent foliage in the shape of hearts.

It blooms almost all summer with small yellowish flowers. With manual additional pollination, quite a lot of original bright red cucumber fruits can be tied, quite edible, fresh in taste.

They had a common ancestor

Modern sciences (molecular and evolutionary botany, paleobotany, genetics) prove that each family from the diverse kingdom of flora has its own special distant ancestor. It is from him that descendants inherit specific General characteristics- such as the formula of a flower (its structure), characteristics of fruits and seeds, the shape of the stem and foliage, etc.

Briefly speaking about the Pumpkin family, then its representatives are characterized by:

• the superficial nature of the branched root system,
• herbaceous stem, often hollow, with rigid fibers, liana-like, creeping or climbing, often with antennae,
• leaf is simple, with a petiole, usually pubescent,
• flowers are most often unisexual (male and female separately), more often solitary (less often inflorescence), with five petals, do not differ in color variety: mostly yellow (but there are also white, light green, reddish).

• multi-seeded fruit; earlier science attributed it to berries, and modern botany introduced a specialthe term "pumpkin"
• dicotyledonous seeds.

The main features of agricultural technology

All pumpkin loves:

• warmth, warmth and again warmth - both in the air and in the root zone;
• abundance of sunlight;
• moderately humid air and soil (only melons prefer drier);
• loose, very nutritious, neutral (without excess acidity) soil.

Nutritional value

All pumpkin seeds are low in calories, suitable for baby and diet food (including diabetics), rarely cause allergies (except for some orange pumpkins).

Fruits carry powerful charges of carotenoids - the most important vitamin compounds, as well as phytosterols, mineral elements.

Surprisingly, even sweet pumpkins are low in sugars. And in ordinary cucumbers there is a lot of a rare element of silver, which helps the human body to kill dangerous microbes.

Vegetables of the Pumpkin family are especially valued for the fact that they are conveniently harvested for future use - either kept fresh for a long time or dried (pumpkins, zucchini), or salted (cucumbers, watermelons, etc.).

• It is interesting!

Not all plants of the Pumpkin family are easily pollinated among themselves. If you are planning to get pure-quality seeds, you should not plant pumpkins (and crocknecchi), zucchini (and zucchini), squash next to it.

But melons, cucumbers and watermelons in nature do not genetically interbreed with each other. However, it is believed that next to cucumbers that have male flowers, melon fruits can grow unsweetened.

With the help of genetic manipulations, breeders managed to breed outlandish monsters - for example, such a superhybrid as kavbuz (a mixture of pumpkin and watermelon, which is more curative than tasty).

With all respect, Andrew

Enter your e-mail and receive new articles by mail: