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Cucumber🥒
Cucumis sativus
キュウリ
A climbing annual vine native to India. The green fruit is a quintessential summer vegetable, widely used in pickles, salads, and vinegar-dressed dishes across Japanese, Western, and Chinese cuisines. With its high water content and refreshing quality, it is indispensable in Japanese food during the hot summer months.
Identification Points
- ✓Climbing vine that clings to supports with tendrils
- ✓Leaves are large and pentagonal with prickly hairs on the surface
- ✓Yellow unisexual flowers (separate male and female)
- ✓Fruit is elongated cylindrical with bumps on the skin
Habitat
Fields, farmland, and home gardens
Season
Transplanting: April–June, harvest: June–September
Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf dissection
Dissected
Leaf shape
Linear
Growth form
Vine
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Petal count
5 petals
Petal fusion
Fused
Habitat
Cultivated
Stipules
Absent
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Ovary position
Inferior
Stamen count
3-4
Phylogenetic Positionウリ科 →
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core eudicots > Cucurbitales > Cucurbitaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene (about 80–70 million years ago)
Evolution Notes
Cucurbitaceae possesses cucurbitacins as bitter defensive compounds. The fleshy fruits promote seed dispersal by being consumed by animals.
View on evolution timeline →Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification