Lost Crops of Africa Volume III: Fruits (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 135-148
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From page 135... ...
Like ourselves, melon is African in ultimate origin. Quite a few species of its genus, Cucumis, occur across the continent, and the wild plants that gave rise to today's melon are native in subSaharan eastern tropical Africa.
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From page 136... ...
136 LOST CROPS OF AFRICA Melons are high-value products in some parts of the world. Shown here is a small specimen in a Nakatsugawa, Japan supermarket, priced (in 2006)
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From page 137... ...
One is actually sold under the name "Armenian cucumber." Other Uses Some melons are grown exclusively for their large, oily seeds, which are roasted like nuts and eaten as snacks. For centuries, "senat" seed was a major export of the Sudan (for more on seeds from various melons, see the Egusi chapter in the companion volume on Africa's vegetables)
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From page 138... ...
Beyond Africa Although Africa is the melon's center of origin, a secondary region of diversity occurs in Asia -- specifically in the region covering Iran, the entire Central Asia area,4 India, and parts of China.5 The former Soviet Union, 3 In Indonesia, for example, it is commonly cultivated, especially in East Java and along the northern coast of Java. 4 Ono of our contributors, Henry Shands, emphasized that all Central Asia has great melons: "I have screened melons from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan and they all have extensive and impressive amounts of genetic variation in size, shape, taste, sugar, etc."
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From page 139... ...
Probably, there was independent domestication for subspecies agrestis and conomon in China, India and Japan, and for subspecies melo in Southwest Asia. 6 Cucumis melo subsp.
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From page 140... ...
agrestis, this type occurs wild in tropical Africa but apparently was not domesticated there; it seems to have came back from Asia. 8 Cucumis melo subsp.
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From page 141... ...
They are second only to bananas as the most consumed fresh fruit in the United States, for example. Despite this, melon could have a far greater future in the daily life of millions, especially given all the untapped biodiversity still in Africa.
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From page 142... ...
NEXT STEPS Research needs of conventional, commercial melons do not concern us here. Beyond the periphery of those pressing problems, however, lie fascinating opportunities that can employ African knowledge and genetic resources to open new horizons for production and use of melons within Africa and without.
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From page 143... ...
melo (Southwest Asia, Egypt, Arabia, Asia Minor, Russia, and the Central Asian Republics) and of subsp.
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From page 144... ...
, luwimbe (Ng) Malay: blewek Philippines: katimon Spanish: melón South Africa: spanspek Sudan: agur, ajur, fagus, senat-tibish, shammam (Ar)
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From page 145... ...
Although the melon was introduced into Asia at a comparatively late date, well-developed secondary regions of variation now occur in India, China, Iran, and Central Asia. Horticultural Varieties The classification of this highly polymorphic species is confused.
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From page 146... ...
However, melons grow well at 1,500 m in South Africa. In temperate areas, at least, the crop seems restricted by temperature and the length of the growing season rather than by altitude.
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From page 147... ...
metulifer (the horned melon, see Chapter 5)
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