Watermelon

A sprawling or trailing vine with softly hairy stems and deeply lobed leaves. The flowers are yellow and unisexual, with male and female flowers separate. The fruit is a large berry (pepo) with a firm rind and no internal divisions; the flesh is sweet and juicy, usually deep red to pink, holding many seeds that are black when ripe (white when immature). Seedless (triploid, 3n) cultivars exist. The fruit can be eaten raw, juiced or pickled, and the rind is edible after cooking. Many cultivars produce mature fruit in about 100 days from sowing. Fruits vary widely in shape (elongate, oval, round) and rind colour (striped green, dark green, yellow).

The watermelon originated in the Sudan region of Africa and was domesticated and cultivated in Egypt by about 2000 BCE; wild watermelon seeds found at the Uan Muhuggiag site in Libya date to about 3500 BCE. Dessert watermelons spread across the Mediterranean world in Roman antiquity. China is today the world's largest producer. Seedless (triploid) watermelons were created in 1939. In Vietnam, watermelon is the familiar fruit of Tết (New Year) — the round fruit with red flesh symbolises luck and fulfilment — displayed and eaten fresh; watermelon juice is used to quench thirst, and the rind may be carved decoratively or pickled.