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Taxon:  Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad.



Summary
Genus:
Citrullus
Family:
Cucurbitaceae
Tribe:
Benincaseae
Nomen number:
10674
Place of publication:
Linnaea 12:414. 1838
Verified:
05/10/1995 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
1 (1  active, 1  available) in National Plant Germplasm System.  (Map it)
Other conspecific taxa
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Basionym
Cucumis colocynthis L.

Heterotypic Synonym(s)
Colocynthis vulgaris Schrad.
No images


Reference(s)
  1. Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson. 2012. Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource) www.skud.info
  2. Botanical Society of the British Isles. BSBI taxon database (on-line resource). URL: http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/BSBI/taxonsearch.php
  3. Chomicki, G. & S. S. Renner. 2015. Watermelon origin solved with molecular phylogenetics including Linnaean material: another example of museonomics. New Phytol. 205:526-532. Note: it rejects Citrullus colocynthis "as a close relative, much less progenitor ... of the watermelon"
  4. CIBA-GEIGY, Basel, Switzerland. Documenta CIBA-GEIGY (Grass weeds 1. 1980, 2. 1981; Monocot weeds 3. 1982; Dicot weeds 1. 1988) Note: four books on weeds worldwide in scope
  5. Dane, F. & P. Lang. 2004. Sequence variation at cpDNA regions of watermelon and related wild species: implications for the evolution of Citrullus haplotypes. Amer. J. Bot. 91:1922-1929. URL: http://www.amjbot.org
  6. Dane, F. et al. 2007. Phylogeography of the bitter apple, Citrullus colocynthis. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 54:327-336. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/10722
  7. Davis, P. H., ed. 1965-1988. Flora of Turkey and the east Aegean islands.
  8. Decker-Walters, D. S. 1999. Cucurbit, Sanskrit, and the Indo-Aryas. Econ. Bot. 53:102. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12231
  9. Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
  10. Duke, J. A. 1985. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
  11. Erhardt, W. et al. 2002. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 17. Auflage
  12. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource). URL: http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/cropListDetails?code=&relation=beginsWith&name=Citrullus+colocynthis&quantity=1
  13. Greuter, W. et al., eds. 1984-. Med-Checklist.
  14. Hansen, A. & P. Sunding. 1993. Flora of Macaronesia: checklist of vascular plants, ed. 4. Sommerfeltia vol. 17.
  15. Hedberg, I. & S. Edwards. 1989-. Flora of Ethiopia Note: Eritrea added in 2000
  16. Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening
  17. Kirkbride, J. H., Jr. 1993. Biosystematic monograph of the genus Cucumis (Cucurbitaceae) Note: mentions
  18. Levi, A. et al. 2001. Genetic diversity among watermelon (Citrullus lanatus and Citrullus colocynthis) accessions. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 48:559-566. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/10722
  19. Levi, A. et al. 2002. A genetic linkage map for watermelon derived from a testcross population: (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides × C. lanatus var. lanatus. Theor. Appl. Genet. 105:555-563. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/122
  20. Levi, A. et al. 2005. Analysis based on RAPD and ISSR markers reveals closer similarities among Citrullus and Cucumis species than with Praecitrullus fistulosus (Stocks) Pangalo. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 52:465-472. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/10722
  21. McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland.
  22. Migahid, A. M. 1988-1990. Flora of Saudi Arabia, ed. 3.
  23. Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali, eds. 1970-. Flora of [West] Pakistan.
  24. Navot, N. et al. 1990. Linkage relationships of genes affecting bitterness and flesh color in watermelon. J. Heredity 81:162-165. Note: this study examined plants derived from crosses between a cultivar of Citrullus lanatus × C. colocynthis and parents, and selfed pollinated plants derived from crosses between C. colocynthis × C. ecirrhosus
  25. Nesom, G. L. 2011. New state records for Citrullus, Cucumis, and Cucurbita (Cucurbitaceae) outside of cultivation in the USA. Phytoneuron 2011-1:1-7. URL: http://www.phytoneuron.net/ Note: naturalized in California
  26. Norton, J. et al. 2009. Illustrated checklist of the flora of Qatar. URL: http://www.unesco.org/new/uploads/media/Plant_Species_Checklist_of_Qatar.pdf
  27. Parsons, W. T. & E. G. Cuthbertson. 1992. Noxious weeds of Australia Inkata Press, Melbourne, Australia.
  28. Personal Care Products Council. INCI URL: http://www.personalcarecouncil.org/public/what-inci
  29. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource). URL: http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Frontpage.html
  30. Rechinger, K. H., ed. 1963-. Flora iranica.
  31. Reddy, U. K. et al. 2013. Cytomolecular characterization of rDNA distribution in various Citrullus species using fluorescent in situ hybridization. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 60:2091-2100. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/10722
  32. Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants
  33. Renner, S. S. & A. K. Pandey. 2013. The Cucurbitaceae of India: accepted names, synonyms, geographic distribution, and information on images and DNA sequences. PhytoKeys 20:62. URL: http://www.pensoft.net/journals/phytokeys
  34. The Hebew University of Jerusalem. Flora of Israel Online (on-line resource). URL: http://flora.huji.ac.il/browse.asp?lang=en
  35. Thulin, M., ed. 1993-. Flora of Somalia.
  36. Townsend, C. C. & E. Guest. 1966-. Flora of Iraq.
  37. Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952-. Flora of tropical East Africa.
  38. Wickens, G. E. et al., eds. 1989. New crops for food and industry 147.
  39. Wood, J. R. I. 1997. A handbook of the Yemen flora.
  40. Zohary, M. & N. Feinbrun-Dothan. 1966-. Flora palaestina.
Common names
English
bitter-apple –
bitter-cucumber –
colocynth –
vine-of-Sodom –
wild gourd –
Arabic
handhal –
French
coloquinte –
German
Bitter-Melone –
Koloquinte –
India
tumba –
Portuguese
colocíntida –
Spanish
alhandal –
coloquíntida –
Swedish
kolokvint –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeAfricaEast Tropical AfricaKenya  
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaChad  
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaEthiopia  
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaSomalia  
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaYemenSocotra 
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaAlgeria  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaEgypt  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaLibya  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaMorocco  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaTunisia  
1NativeAfricaWest Tropical AfricaMali  
1NativeAsia-TemperateArabian PeninsulaKuwait  
1NativeAsia-TemperateArabian PeninsulaSaudi Arabia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateArabian PeninsulaYemen  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaAfghanistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaCyprus  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaEgyptSinai 
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIran  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIraq  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIsrael  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaJordan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaLebanon  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaSyria  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaTurkey s.
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaAndhra Pradesh 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaAssam 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaBihar 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaDelhi 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaGoa 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaGujarat 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaKarnataka 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaMaharashtra 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaPunjab 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaRajasthan 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaTamil Nadu 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaUttar Pradesh 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentPakistan  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentSri Lanka  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndo-ChinaMyanmar  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeGreece  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeItalySicilia 
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeSpain  
2Cultivated    widely cult. in s.w. Asia and n. Africa
4NaturalizedAustralasiaAustraliaAustralia  
Native
Africa
  • NORTHERN AFRICA: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
  • NORTHEAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad, Yemen [Socotra]
  • EAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Kenya
  • WEST TROPICAL AFRICA: Mali
Asia-Temperate
  • ARABIAN PENINSULA: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
  • WESTERN ASIA: Afghanistan, Cyprus, Egypt [Sinai], Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey (s.)
Asia-Tropical
  • INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: India [Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Goa], Sri Lanka, Pakistan
  • INDO-CHINA: Myanmar
Europe
  • SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: Greece, Italy [Sicilia]
  • SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE: Spain
Cultivated (widely cult. in s.w. Asia and n. Africa)
Naturalized
Australasia
  • AUSTRALIA: Australia
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Medicinesfolklore Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs
Medicinesfolklore Decker-Walters, D. S. 1999. Cucurbit, Sanskrit, and the Indo-Aryas. Econ. Bot. 53:102. URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12231
Medicinesfolklore McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2 American Herbal Products Association, Silver Spring, Maryland.
Medicinesfolklorefide New Crops Food Ind 147. 1989Wickens, G. E. et al., eds. 1989. New crops for food and industry 147.
Vertebrate poisonsmammalsfide Use Pl WT Afr 2:571. 1985Burkill, H. M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa. 1:570. Note: mentions
Weed  CIBA-GEIGY, Basel, Switzerland. Documenta CIBA-GEIGY (Grass weeds 1. 1980, 2. 1981; Monocot weeds 3. 1982; Dicot weeds 1. 1988) Note: four books on weeds worldwide in scope


ILRI Germplasm Policy (excerpts)

The International Livestock research Institute (ILRI) maintains a collection of forage germplasm as a global public good. The material was acquired prior to the entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity; or if it was acquired after the entering into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity, it was obtained with the understanding that it was held in trust and could be made available for any agricultural research, breeding and training purposes under the terms and conditions set out in the agreement between the ILRI and FAO dated 26 October 1994. On 16 October 2006, ILRI signed an agreement with the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Treaty) placing these in trust collections of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) within the purview of the Treaty.

In accordance with this Agreement, all shipments of PGRFA of crops listed in Annex 1 to the Treaty (shipments of PGRFA under the Multilateral System) will be subject to the terms and conditions of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA). In the event that the SMTA (attached) is used for the transfer of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture other than those listed in Annex 1 of the Treaty: i) The references in the SMTA to the "Multilateral System" shall not be interpreted as limiting the application of the SMTA to Annex 1 Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and in the case of Article 6.2 of the SMTA shall mean "under this Agreement". ii) The reference in Article 6.11 and Annex 3 of the SMTA to "Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture belonging to the same crop, as set out in Annex 1 to the Treaty" shall be taken to mean "Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture belonging to the same crop".

The material is held in trust and the recipient has no rights to obtain Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) on the material or related information. The recipient may utilize and conserve the material for research, breeding and training and may distribute it to other parties provided such parties accept the terms and conditions of the SMTA .

ILRI will provide forage seeds in small experimental quantities of between 1 and 20 grams without charge from the germplasm collection under the SMTA as appropriate for the crop as part of its policy of maximizing the utilization of material for research, breeding and training. Larger quantities sufficient to sow up to one quarter of a hectare of a limited number of promising accessions will require that requesters cover the costs of production and shipping.

ILRI makes no warranties as to the safety or title of the material, nor as to the accuracy or correctness of any passport or other data provided with the material. Neither does it make any warranties as to the quality, viability, or purity (genetic or mechanical) of the material being furnished. The phytosanitary condition of the material is warranted only as described in the attached phytosanitary certificate. The recipient assumes full responsibility for complying with the recipient nation’s quarantine and biosafety regulations and rules as to import or release of genetic material.