Cucurbitaceae: A Family of Gourd & their botany, origin and distribution

Sanjeet Kumar

sanjeet.biotech@gamil.com

Cucurbits belong to the family Cucurbitaceae, consist of about 118 genera and 825 species worldwide (Jeffrey 1990). Cucurbits are believed to be most primitive plant family and species are mostly utilized as vegetables by human beings. Research indicated that the fruits have been used since ancient civilization to modern era in same rate. The evolutionary changes have happened in only palatability. The earlier human beings / races of different parts of the world were observed the nutritional importance and started to use the techniques to remove bitter components. Traditional methods were adopted generation to generation to make wild plants more edible. The earliest records of human use of edible cucurbits have come from Mexico. The earlier evidenced traced out that the people of China started the domestication of some cucurbits, which reflect its origin of species too.

Such cucurbits was belongs to genus Citrullus, Cucurbita and Luffa.  Genus Momordica is Asian origin and evidences are revealed from the ancient mythology / literature of India, Tibet, China, Indonesia, Sumatra, Java and Maldives. S. amplexicaulis is reported that it is originated from tropical Asian countries and Saldana & Nicolson (1976) did addition to the Flora of India. C. grandis is of Indian and African origin. Jeffrey reported first time Diplocyclos palmatus from Asia. Hook (1879) and Gamble (1919) reported T. cucumerina from India. Some edible species of genus Lagenaria is found frequently in India in wild and cultivated form but they are probably African origin (Dalziel 1937; Heiser 1973). C. sativus is of Asiatic origin (Okoli, 1984). C. sativus was brought to the America by Christopher Columbus and, Native Americans were growing this species from Florida to Canada. C. melo is found in Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands, Americas but it is believed to be African origin (Kirkbride 1993). For more confirmation regarding origin of Cucurbits, need molecular studies such as RAPD and ISSR finger printing. Such studies will justify the authentic scientific evidences for Origin which will be helpful in the study of plant evolution and how some specific metabolites are settled in the plant parts under plant defense mechanisms.

The family is predominantly distributed around the Tropics and Sub-Tropical regions. All species are sensitive to frost. Most of the species of this family are annual or perennial vines but are also woody lianas, shrubs with watery sap, thorny shrubs, scandent or prostrate. Roots are fibrous and tuberous. Most of species have yellow and white flowers. The stems are hairy and penta-angular. Tendrils are present at 90 ° to the leaf petioles at nodes. Tendrils are solitary, lateral, simple or branched, spirally twisted and rarely absent. Leaves are ex-stipulate, alternate simple, palmi-nerved, palmately lobed or palmately compound. Lamina is variable among the members in the same species or even in the individual plant. The flowers are unisexual. Flowers are small or large. Male and female flowers are found in different plants or in the same plant. Flowers are paniculate, racemose, or subumbellate and rarely solitary. The fruit is often of modified berry called a pepo. It is indehiscent, pendulous, or ascending, often compressed, rarely winged. Seeds usually many, in pulp or fibre, often compressed.

In present study, the four selected wild cucurbits are illustrated regarding the distribution. We selected two types of Tricosanthes (T. cucumerina and T. tricuspidata), one species of Cucumis (C. melo) and one species of Diplocyclos (D. palmatus).Trichosanthes is native to Southern and Eastern Asia, Australia and Islands of Western Pacific. Both selected species are distributed commonly in Myanmar, Malaysia, China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Australia. T. cucumerina is domesticated in Tropical Asia, Africa, Malaya, Tropical Australia, Sri Lanka, China, Northern Australia and West & Central Africa. In India, it is distributed throughout the country. T. tricuspidata found only in wild conditions in the said areas and throughout the India. C. melo is distributed in China, France, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Southern and central Africa. In, India it is distributed in Odisha, Punjab, Karnataka and Eastern Ghats. D. palmatus is found in wild conditions and harvested for medicinal purposes only. It is distributed in Africa, Malaysia, China, Philippines and some Tropical countries. In India, it is distributed in Maharashtra, Utter Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Eastern Ghats.

Antimicrobial activity and Pharmacological values of wild cucurbits

Sanjeet Kumar

sanjeet.biotech@gmail.com

 Antimicrobial activity and Pharmacological values of wild Cucurbits

 

Many infectious diseases are known to the treated with herbal remedies throughout the history of mankind. Plants still continue to be almost the exclusive sources of antimicrobial compounds for the majority of the world’s population. The WHO reported that 60 % of the traditional medicine and a major part of the traditional therapies involve using of plant parts as anti-microbial agents. Therefore over the last decade there has been rapid growth in the use of alternative medicines, which are also the key compounds in future clinical microbiological and pharmacological research. Plant materials have been a valuable source of natural products for maintaining human health and the use of plant compounds for pharmaceutical purposes has gradually increased in throughout the world and particular in India. In India, there are various evidences are observed / reported that the rural and tribal communities of Odisha are using the wild plants for curing the microbial infections. The use of plant extracts and their photochemical, both with known antimicrobial properties can be of great significance in therapeutic treatment. These pharmacological work starts from the ethnobotanical knowledge obtained through the well planed questioners found from the different tribal and rural communities. They are the treasury of this heritage knowledge. Therefore, among the plant species, present study has gathered the pharmacological values of some selected wild cucurbits for highlighting their medicinal importance. Most of wild cucurbits are very easily available and used against skin infections, asthma, oral decay etc. Details are listed in Table.

Table: Pharmacological properties of selected wild cucurbits

Plant name	Parts	Ethnobotany	Sources
Cucumis melo	Fruit	Pericarp is used in kidney stone and urinary infection.	Braham and Saxena (1990)
C. melo	Seed	Seeds are diuretic promotes the production of urine	Murthy et al. (2013)
C. melo	Fruits	Used as laxative	Bahadur et al. (2013)
C. melo	Leaves	Used to treat the skin infection	Khalid et al. (2010)
Diplocyclos palmatus	Seed	Increase fertility among women and manse problems among girls	Dash et al. (2003)
D.palmatus	Leaves	Leaves are used against inflammation	Chopra et al. (1956)
D.palmatus	Seeds	Used in asthma, cholera and promotes fertility in women	Archana sing et al. (2012)
D. palmatus	Seed	Anti-inflammatory	Aref et al. (2005)
D.palmatus	Seeds	Used in diabetic	Singh et al. (2009)
D.palmatus	Fruits	Used in hysteria and Jaundice	Radha et al. (2012)
D.palmatus	Leaves	Used in colic , fever, paralysis of tongue, piles	Patel et al. (2013)
Trichosanthes cucumerina	Fruits	Used against cardiovascular dieses	Cao et al. (1996)
T.cucumerina	Fruits	Anti-diabetic activity.	Wang et al. (1996)
T.cucumerina	Root	Anti-diabetic activity.	Nadkarni (Year)
T.cucumerina	Leaves	Emetic agents	Nadkarni (Year)
T.cucumerina	Seeds	Cooling agent and antihelmintic activity	Madhava et al. (2008)
T. cucumerina	Fruits	Antidiabetic activity	Menuka et al. (2009)
T.cucumerina	Roots	Anti-Inflammatory activity	Bharatha et al. (2010)
T. tricuspidata	Fruits	Fruits are used as anti-dote	Jadhav et al. (2011)