Cucumber

Flora of China distinguishes two botanical varieties of cucumber: var. sativus, with oblong or cylindric, warty fruit usually 10–30 cm long and reaching 50 cm, and var. hardwickii, with smooth oblong or subglobose fruit 5–6 cm long.

Stems are angular with white bristly hairs and simple tendrils; leaves are broadly ovate-cordate, 7–20 cm, 3–5-lobed. Male flowers are clustered with a yellow-white corolla, female flowers usually solitary; the fruit is yellow-green, oblong or cylindric, usually 10–30 cm, warty.