Madras Cucumber : Cucumis Species : Bangalore : 220114 : AK-13

[Aarti S. Khale]

Saw this vegetable in the Bangalore market during my visit in Nov,13.

Popularly known as Madras cucumber.

Aarti

[Mahadeswara]

This is also known as mangalore cucumber (mangaluru southekai in kannada).  Very common in Dakshina Kannada area.

[Aarti S. Khale]

Mahadeswara ji,

Thanks again.

Could you give me the botanical name for it please.

Regards,

Aarti

[Gurcharan Singh]

Aarti ji it is in my book

Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis var. conomon.

Dr. Gurcharan Singh

Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089

http://www.gurcharanfamily.com/ 
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

[Gurumurthi]

This particular fruits in the post are of a cultivar of Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis.

Common Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis will not exceed 10 cm in length, and will be bitter in taste before maturity. Whereas, this particular cultivar (Mangalore southe kaay)grows upto 25cm x 20 cm in size, and will be sweet (rather I can say, NOT BITTER) always.

The pulp texture has a range of variation.

This fruit in the picture is called mage-kaayi/ moge-kaayi in Coastal Karnataka.

A common vegetable in the backyard garden of my home too ! 

[Gurcharan Singh]

Gurumurthy ji

Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis var. conomon has many forms in cultivation, differing from cucumber (with which they often been confused in past but have white flesh as against greenish white in cucumber). Some of these were earlier also separated under var. mukuwa Makino, and var. conomon (Thunb.) Makino under C. melo directly. These include

1. Malabar cucumber, golden yellow

2. Kani Vellari, golden yellow with green patches as above case

3. Chinese Dua gang similar with smaller fruits

4. Dosakai or Dosakaya with larger fruits with green patches turning brown when mature.

All above used as vegetable

5. Korean melon, golden yellow with white sutures, used as table fruit.

Dr. Gurcharan Singh

Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089

http://www.gurcharanfamily.com/ 
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to indiantreepi...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to indian...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Gurumurthi]

Thank you Gurcharan jee for the interesting inputs.

In  that case, the one in my garden(moge kaayi) must be Dosakai or Dosakaya

(Yes, we prepare the delicious DOSA from the same fruit ! ) 

[Gurcharan Singh]

Thanks Gurumurthy for this information.

I had seen a lot of dosakai in California Indian stores. Most earlier books and some websites still list it as Cucumis sativus, but white flesh and leaves are distinctive. I have described this and many others in my recent book "Know your Fruits and Vegetables: Cucurbits"

Dr. Gurcharan Singh

Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089

http://www.gurcharanfamily.com/ 
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

--

[Aarti S. Khale]

Nice to know all the different varieties to this vegetable.

Regards,

Aarti