Observe ⇒ Differentiate ⇒ Identify ⇒ NURTURE
Botanical Name: Cucurbita maxima
Photo Credit: Mandar Joshi Record Count: 1 Photo Date-Time: 13-Jul-2020 08:25 AM
Photo Description: None
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Common Name: भोपळा
Etymology - Genus: Latin name for the gourd
Etymology - Species: Ripe, large fruit
Ecosystem: Annual
Origin: Native
Location: India
Description: Annual climber, grows very rapidly completing its lifecycle with a season. Stem grows thick with sharp hairs. Since the fruit is huge and heavy, the vine crawls along the ground.Simple leaf with a presence of tendril at the leaf node. Tendril coils around the support.Pubescent leaf with 3-5 triangular lobes.Male and female flowers appear singly in a leaf axil. Male with long peduncle and female wit short peduncle.Male and female flowers are born on same plant. Orange flowers are size of a palm.Flowers are yellow, with minute hairs on petals. Female flower has a lemon size ovary below the calyx. Sepals are linear, petals are in bell shape.Fruit is green, and grows into a huge and heavy round shape at maturity.Many flat seeds are embedded in a orange pulp.
