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Watermelon🍉
Citrullus lanatus
スイカ
An annual plant native to southern Africa and the quintessential summer fruit. It became widespread in Japan during the Edo period, with current main production areas including Kumamoto, Chiba, and Yamagata. Beneath the green-and-dark-striped rind lies sweet red flesh composed of nearly 95% water. Widely consumed as a hydration source during the hot summer months.
Identification Points
- ✓Annual climbing vine with tendrils
- ✓Leaves are deeply pinnately lobed, grayish-green
- ✓Flowers are small, yellow, and monoecious
- ✓Fruit is large, globose to ellipsoid, dark green with light green stripes
- ✓Flesh is red (rarely yellow) and very juicy
Habitat
Warm farmland and home gardens
Season
June–August (fruiting)
Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf dissection
Dissected
Leaf shape
Round
Growth form
Vine
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Petal count
5 petals
Petal fusion
Fused
Flowering season
Summer
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 originated approximately 89 million years ago. The strategy of producing large fruits to promote mammalian seed dispersal, combined with complex hybrid breeding, has produced diverse cultivars.
View on evolution timeline →Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification