Botanically, the cucumber is a fruit! Belonging to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, the cucumber originated in India, near the slopes of the Himalayas. The plants in this family are grown around the tropics and in temperate areas, where those with edible fruits were among the earliest cultivated plants in both the Old and New Worlds. The family Cucurbitaceae ranks among the highest of plant families for number and percentage of species used as human food.
Most of the plants in this family are annual vines, but some are woody lianas, thorny shrubs, or trees (Dendrosicyos). Many species have large, yellow or white flowers. The stems are hairy and pentangular. Tendrils are present at 90 degree Celsius to the leaf petioles at nodes. Leaves are exstipulate alternate simple palmately lobed or palmately compound. The flowers are unisexual, with male and female flowers on different plants or on the same plant. The female flowers have inferior ovaries. The fruit is often a kind of modified berry called a pepo.
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