watermelon
The watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is widely cultivated worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieties.
Watermelons are grown in favorable climates from tropical to temperate regions worldwide for its large edible fruit, which is a berry with a hard rind and no internal divisions, botanically called a pepo. The sweet, juicy flesh is usually deep red to pink, with many seeds that are black when mature, white when immature. Seedless varieties also exist. The fruit can be eaten raw or pickled, and the rind is edible after cooking. It may also be consumed as a juice or an ingredient in mixed beverages.
Watermelon originated in Africa, where it was first cultivated. Kordofan melons from Sudan are the closest relatives and may be progenitors of modern, cultivated watermelons. Wild watermelon seeds were found in Uan Muhuggiag, a prehistoric site in Libya that dates to approximately 3500 BC. In 2022, a study was released that traced 6,000-year-old watermelon seeds found in the Libyan desert to the Egusi seeds of Nigeria, West Africa. Watermelons were domesticated in Sudan and cultivated in Egypt by 2000 BC; an image of an apparent one on a tray has been found in an Egyptian tomb dating at least to 4000 years ago. Those were not of the sweet modern variety, but Hebrew texts from early in the Christian era place watermelon with other sweet table fruits, and dessert watermelons spread across the Mediterranean world during Roman antiquity.
Considerable breeding effort has developed disease-resistant varieties. Many cultivars are available that produce mature fruit within 100 days of planting. As of 2023, China is the world's leading producer of watermelons with 64% of the total.
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