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Cucumis ficifolius
Cucumis ficifolius is a dioecious, prostrate or climbing vine in the gourd family, native to dry tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is a wild species rather than a commonly cultivated crop, so it is mainly grown by specialists and botanic gardens, where warmth, sun and good drainage are the keys to success.
Cucumis ficifolius is a dioecious flowering vine in the family Cucurbitaceae. The specific epithet (ficifolius) is derived from the Latin words ficus meaning "fig tree" and folium meaning "leaf".
Cucumis ficifolius is native to Africa and is found from Mauritania south to Ghana and Ivory Coast and east to the Horn of Africa and Tanzania and southwest to South Africa, as well as the Sinai Peninsula.
West Indian gherkin · Aardvark Cucumber · Cucumis hystrix · Cantaloupe · Armenian cucumber · Melon · African horned cucumber · Gooseberry gourd · Cucumis · Cucumber · Melon
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cucumis ficifolius by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
