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 L