Patterns of the Cucumber (Gourd) Family

The Watermelon(Citrullus) is in the Gourd Family of plants(Cucurbitaceae). There are over 850 species in this plant family, including 3 different genus’: Cucurbita, Cucumis, and “others” (Watermelon, Chayote, and Vegetable Sponge). The Gourd Family typically consists of vining plants. The flowers on them are unisexual and also have 5 separate petals and 5 united petals. Some members of the Family also contain toxic alkaloids, which are any of a class of naturally occurring organic nitrogen-containing bases. Alkaloids have diverse and important physiological effects on humans and other animals.

- Prepared by Leo

Sources:
http://agriculturenigeria.com/farming-production/horticulture/watermelon http://www.irinnews.org/news/2008/05/13 
Botany In A Day

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How is the biosphere both a "carbon source" and a "carbon sink"?

The biosphere has many ways to be a carbon sink. One of the reasons is that the forests collectively are a HUGE carbon sink. The problem is when we cut down forests, that turns them into a carbon source. All the carbon stored in those ginormous trees is released into the atmosphere.  - Emily The biosphere is a very important part of climate change. The biosphere is all the living things, above and below the earth’s surface. All of the plants in the biosphere take in carbon in order to do photosynthesis and is therefore it is a carbon sink. However, when plants die and animals breathe out and release excrement they are putting carbon into the atmosphere and are therefore a carbon source. - Owen All living things are made up of carbon and also store carbon and take in carbon. For example, if you were to bury an antelope its body would start to break down, releasing carbon. So, while it is alive it is a carbon sink, but when it dies it can become a carbon source. The same thing would
Read more

How do farmers make climate change worse?

Negative impacts of farming: 1. Factory farming highly increases the amount of air pollution. Over 37% of methane emissions come from factory farming. Methane has a global warming potential 20 times higher than carbon dioxide. 2. Deforestation is a big problem. In just the United States, over 260 million acres of forests have been diminished in order to have crop fields. Forests help as a carbon sink so to have them taken away is a big problem. - Henry http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/factory-farming-is-killing-the-environment/ One reason farmers are making climate change worse is that when farmers till the soil for their crops, it will and does release carbon into the atmosphere. An example of this is when big harvesting and farming companies , go to the fields with their big tractors, they began to till massive amounts of soil, therefore releasing large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. The tilling is also depleting the amount of organic matter. This past
Read more

What are some of the ways that climate change will affect farmers?

Farmers will first be affected when the average temperatures rise. They will be affected by this because their less adaptable plants which can only grow in certain conditions will no longer be able to live. As climate change continues, they will have fewer crop options because of this. Because it is happening on a global scale, the cost of food will go up, and although they are making more money per product they will be growing less produce. - Owen Climate change is affecting farmers by destroying the soil, the air, and the water. There will also be dry soil from droughts and soil being tilled and over worked. Our earth will become so hot and dry we won’t be able to function and grow food. Now I’m not saying that it’s all farmers fault, but they make a huge impact. - Piper Climate change makes planting much harder. Before climate change, the seasons were far more consistent and that made planting much easier. When the winter lasts for two more months less than it should have, the
Read more