Article
Article
Watermelon
Article By:
Andrus, C. F. Formerly, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Charleston, South Carolina.
Schenck, N. C. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.739700
The edible fruit of Citrullus lanatus, which belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. The watermelon plant is an annual prostrate vine with multiple stems alternating from short nodes near the base of the main axis, reaching lengths of 10–15 ft (3–4.5 m). Short vine or “bush” type cultivars exist, but they are not commercially useful. In a typical monoecious plant, pistillate flowers occur at every seventh node, with staminate flowers occurring at intervening nodes. Cultivated plants range from 250 to 1000 hills (soil mounds) per acre (620 to 2470 hills per hectare) according to variety and region. Commercially, an average yield of one mature watermelon (Fig. 1) per plant is acceptable. See also: Horticultural crops; Violales
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