Description: Monoecious trailing or climbing herb, scabrous. Tendrils 2–7-branched.
Leaves simple, palmately 5-lobed, toothed, scabrous. Male and female flowers solitary, in the same or different axils.
Flowers mostly large. Hypanthium bell-shaped. Corolla 5-lobed, yellow. Stamens 5, anthers fused into a head. Female flowers without staminodes. Ovary with numerous ovules.
Fruit indehiscent, variable in shape and size; seeds numerous, flattened.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 20 species, America. Australia: 1 species (naturalized).
Text by G. J. Harden
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Cucurbita maxima |
|
