• Scientific Name: Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai
• Ref: Index Seminum (TI, Tokyo) 1915-1916:30. 1916
• Synonyms:
  • Anguria citrullus Mill.
  • Citrullus anguria (Duchesne) H.Hara
  • C. aquosus Schur
  • C. battich Forssk.
  • C. caffrorum Schrad.
  • C. chodospermus Falc. & Dunal
  • C. citrullus H.Karst.
  • C. citrullus Small
  • C. edulis Spach
  • C. mucosospermus var. senegalicus (Fursa) Fursa
  • C. pasteca Sageret
  • C. vulgaris Schrad.
  • Colocynthis amarissima Schrad.
  • C. citrullus (L.) Kuntze
  • Cucumis amarissimus Schrad.
  • C. citrullus (L.) Ser.
  • C. dissectus Decne.
  • C. laciniosus Eckl. ex Steud.
  • C. vulgaris (Schrad.) E.H.L.Krause
  • Cucurbita anguria Duchesne
  • C. caffra Eckl. & Zeyh.
  • C. citrullus L.
  • C. gigantea Salisb.
  • C. pinnatifida Schrank
  • Momordica lanata Thunb.
• English Common Name: watermelon
• Chinese Common Name: 西瓜 xīguā
• Japanese Common Name: スイカ [西瓜] suika
• Family: Cucurbitaceae
• Genus: Citrullus
• Distribution: Commonly cultivated in China [native to S Africa; cultivated in all warmer areas of the world].
• Photo: Mt. Songlan, Ningbo, Zhejiang

Plants annual. Stem and branches robust, sulcate-angular, villous. Tendrils puberulent, 2-fid. Petiole 3-12 cm, densely pubescent; leaf blade white-green, triangulate-ovate, 8-20 × 5-15 cm, both surfaces hispid, 3-partite; segments lobulate, base cordate, sinus semicircular, apex acute or acuminate. Flowers solitary. Male flowers: pedicel 3-4 cm, villous; calyx tube densely villous; segments narrowly lanceolate, 2-3 mm; corolla pale yellow, 2.5-3 cm in diam.; segments ovate-oblong, 1-1.5 × 0.5-0.8 cm; stamens nearly free. Female flowers: calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary 5-8 mm, densely villous; stigmas 3, reniform. Fruit globose or oblong, smooth. Seeds numerous, color various, ovate, 1-1.5 × 0.5-0.8 cm. Fl. and fr. Apr-Oct. (Flora of China)