''Cucumis metuliferus'', commonly called the African horned cucumber (shortened to horned cucumber), horned melon, spiked melon, jelly melon, or kiwano, is an annual

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

in the

cucumber The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.Cucurbitaceae The Cucurbitaceae (), also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family (biology), family consisting of about 965 species in 101 genera.

. Its fruit has

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

-like spines, hence the name "horned melon". The ripe fruit has orange skin and lime-green, jelly-like flesh. ''C. metuliferus'' is native to

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

, in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Angola.

Consumption and other uses

Kiwano is a traditional food plant in Africa. Along with the gemsbok cucumber ('' Acanthosicyos naudinianus'') and ''tsamma'' ( citron melon), it is one of the few sources of water during the dry season in the

Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African ...

. ''Parc de Khal-agadi, pas si désert'', in

Science & Vie ''Science & Vie'' (; ''Science and Life'') is a monthly science magazine published in France. Its headquarters is in Paris. History and profile The magazine was started in 1913 with the name ''La Science et la Vie''. In 1982, a spinoff computer m ...

n° 1130, November 2011, pp. 18–21. In northern Zimbabwe, it is called ''gaka'' or ''gakachika'', and is primarily used as a snack or salad, and rarely for decoration. It can be eaten at any stage of ripening. ''C. metuliferus'' may be used as a

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to ...

(via grafting) for melon to prevent both growth reduction and a strong

nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...

buildup in ''M. incognita''-infested soil. The fruit's taste has been compared to a combination of banana and

passionfruit ''Passiflora edulis'', commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to the region of southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its ...

, cucumber and zucchini or a combination of banana, cucumber and lime. A small amount of salt or sugar can increase the flavor, but the seed content can make eating the fruit less convenient than many common fruits. Some also eat the peel, which is very rich in vitamin'' ''C and

dietary fiber Dietary fiber (fibre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical co ...

Germination

Germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, ...

is optimal between ; is delayed at and seed stratification is totally inhibited; and is greatly inhibited above .

Salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

increases the time required for full germination. The

sowing Sowing is the process of planting seeds. An area that has had seeds planted in it will be described as a sowed or sown area. Plants which are usually sown Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sown, grasses and legumes are ...

dates greatly influence fruit yield and

flowering Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

Pests and diseases

Kiwano is resistant to several root-knot nematodes; two accessions were found to be highly resistant to

watermelon mosaic virus ''Watermelon mosaic virus'' (WMV) also known as Marrow mosaic virus (Raychaudhuri and Varma, 1975; Varma, 1988), Melon mosaic virus (Iwaki et al., 1984; Komuro, 1962), and until recently Watermelon mosaic virus type 2 (WMV-2), is a plant pathogen ...

, but very sensitive to the squash mosaic virus. Some accessions were found to succumb to ''Fusarium'' wilt. Resistance to greenhouse whitefly was reported. Kiwano was reported to be resistant to

powdery mildew Powdery mildew is a fungus, fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of Ascomycota, ascomycete fungi in the order Erysiphales. Powdery mildew is one of the easier plant disea ...

, but in Israel, powdery mildew and squash mosaic virus attacked kiwano fields and control measures had to be taken.

Fruit development

During 28 days of development on the plant, fresh weight,

electrical conductivity Electrical resistivity (also called volume resistivity or specific electrical resistance) is a fundamental specific property of a material that measures its electrical resistance or how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity in ...

and titratable acidity of fruits do not change, pH rises and then falls, and concentrations of reducing sugars and total soluble solids increase. In the same period,

peel Peel or Peeling may refer to: Places Australia * Peel (Western Australia) * Peel, New South Wales * Peel River (New South Wales) Canada * Peel Parish, New Brunswick * Peel, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community in Peel Parish * Pee ...

colour changes from green through whitish green to yellow and finally to orange, and the

pigment A pigment is a powder used to add or alter color or change visual appearance. Pigments are completely or nearly solubility, insoluble and reactivity (chemistry), chemically unreactive in water or another medium; in contrast, dyes are colored sub ...

profile shows a decline in pigments absorbing at 431 and 663'' ''nm, and a rapid increase in those absorbing at 442 and 470'' ''nm.

Gallery

File:Zeleno.jpg File:Owoce Kiwano.jpg File:Kiwano.JPG File:Kiwanov.jpg

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q41318 metuliferus Desert fruits Fruits originating in Africa Melons