The Cucurbitoideae are a subfamily of the
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
family
Cucurbitaceae
The Cucurbitaceae (), also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family (biology), family consisting of about 965 species in 101 genera. (gourds). The Cucurbitaceae are divided into two subfamilies, the
Zanonioideae, probably a
paraphyletic
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
group of remainders, and the well-supported
monophyletic
In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria:
# the grouping contains its own most recent co ...
Cucurbitoideae.
The subfamily Cucurbitoideae consists of eight tribes. Members of the tribe
Cucurbiteae produce economically valuable
fruits
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
, called
gourds
Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly ''Cucurbita'' and ''Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. Many gourds have ...
, which include
crops like
squashes (including
pumpkins),
luffas, and
melons (including
watermelons).
The tribe
Benincaseae contains a genus called ''
Lagenaria
''Lagenaria'' is a genus of gourd-bearing vines in the squash family (Cucurbitaceae
The Cucurbitaceae (), also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family (biology), family consisting of about 965 species in 101 genera. '' whose members produce gourds that can be eaten when young or whose ripe shells can be dried and used as containers.
References
Rosid subfamilies
{{Cucurbitales-stub