ABSTRACT

Cucurbits belong to a plant group with the most species used as human food in the Cucurbitaceae family. Within this family, the genus Cucurbita stands out as 1 of the most important. The cucurbits, also called Cucurbitaceae and the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. The plants in this family are grown around the tropics and in temperate areas, where those with edible fruits were among the earliest cultivated plants both in the Old and New Worlds. The Cucurbitaceae family ranks among the highest of plant families for number and percentage of species used as human food.