Plant of the pumpkin family. Pumpkin crops. Botanical description of pumpkin

Pumpkin is a treasure trove of organic matter and minerals, so its health benefits are beyond question. In the article, we will consider the effect of pumpkin on the human body, as well as its use in cooking, folk medicine and home cosmetology.

Pumpkin is a genus of herbaceous annuals in the Pumpkin family. Various varieties of this culture are cultivated in vegetable gardens and melons. The pumpkin grows as a curling creeping shoot. The stem, covered with thorny shoots, can grow up to 10 meters in length.

The leaves are alternate, planted on long petioles. The leaf plate is large (up to 30 cm in diameter), ribbed, finely toothed, covered with hard fibers. The flower is quite large, unisexual, mostly carrot-colored. The peduncle is ribbed.

The fruit is spherical, oval or pear-shaped, with a smooth surface. The pumpkin skin is dense. The inside is fleshy; in the cut you can see many seeds. The average weight of the fetus is 8-10 kg, sometimes this figure reaches 50 kg and more.

The length of the pumpkin ranges from 20 to 70 cm. The color may vary depending on the variety - the fruit can be orange, green, white, gray and even pink; plain or spotted.

Did you know? The Indians cultivated pumpkin 5 thousand years ago. The pulp was used by themin cooking, they squeezed oil out of seeds, and made dishes from the peel. This plant culture came to the European continent around the 16th century thanks to the Spanish conquistadors.

The seeds are large, flat, about 1–2 cm in size, with a clearly visible lateral rim and two shells. Seed color can be pale yellow, white or brown. The core consists of two cotyledons yellow color and one embryo.

Culture is divided into four types:

Beneficial features

Edible varieties can be consumed in any form - raw, boiled, baked, dried. Let's figure out what the usefulness of the described vegetable is, and find out if it retains its nutritional characteristics after processing.

Boiled pumpkin

After heat treatment, some of the organic substances and trace elements disappear. Despite this, the product in question as a whole has a positive effect on the internal organs.

Boiled pulp helps to remove toxins and sodium salts, has a direct choleretic, diuretic and laxative effect. This dietary product relieves the condition of those suffering from cardiovascular pathologies and overweight - it somewhat reduces the load on the heart muscle.

A boiled vegetable is indispensable for people of age, because after heat treatment it becomes very soft. In this form, the pulp is better perceived by the teeth and stomach. For the same reason, the product is excellent for baby food.

Dried pumpkin

Dried pumpkin is valued no less than fresh: the main advantage is that it practically does not require additional processing.

After drying, almost all the vitamins contained in the fresh product are preserved. Dried pumpkin can give strength to athletes. In addition, such a product improves memory, heals digestion, removes bile and mucus.

Pumpkin oils

It is noted for its high nutritional value, it is 40% produced from the pulp and seeds of a vegetable. The oil can be purchased at the pharmacy for little money. The natural remedy is indispensable in the treatment and prevention of a number of ailments. It is used for pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular and endocrine systems.

The product is able to cleanse the body of toxins. The oil helps to strengthen the body's defenses, maintains hormonal balance. The product is also used for vision problems, dysfunctions of the reproductive system, it treats damage to the mucous membranes.

In addition, this oil has a beneficial effect on the epidermis, hair, nails, on the condition of bones and cartilage. The wound healing and antibacterial properties of the product are also known.

Important! Pumpkin seed oil is not suitable for frying, as it loses most of its nutritional value after being cooked.

Sunflower seeds

The value of seeds is explained by the increased concentration of protein, magnesium, zinc, tocopherol, useful acids and vegetable oils (more than 50%). They stimulate the work of the heart muscle, relieve pain in angina pectoris and other pathologies of the heart and blood vessels. The seeds are useful in the prevention and treatment of liver and kidney ailments.

After drying, the product can be stored for up to 2 years without losing its properties. Dried seeds are also useful for the reproductive system - they activate sex hormones, prevent prostatitis in men.

The seeds are very effective in the fight against worms, help with dandruff, oily hair, as well as acne on the skin of the face and body. It is an excellent remedy for slowing skin aging.

Tops

Even pumpkin leaves are used when preparing alternative medicine recipes. You can be convinced of how useful the vegetable tops are by studying its composition. It contains several proteins called PR-1, PR-2, PR-5, which exhibit pronounced antibiotic and antifungal properties.

When using pumpkin leaves, the wound healing process is accelerated. In addition, the tops contain a lot of vitamin C (more than the pulp). Due to ascorbic acid, the immune system is strengthened, the processes of hematopoiesis are regulated. The benefits are also in regulating metabolism, removing toxins and slowing down the aging process of the body.

Contraindications and side effects

Unfortunately, the presented vegetable has not only beneficial properties.

• You should not include it on the menu if you suffer from the following ailments:
• chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (especially in the stages of exacerbation);
• failure of acid-base balance in the body;
• diabetes.

An individual allergic reaction may become a reason for refusing pumpkin. Some people experience flatulence when consuming this vegetable. Children may have colic. If you also notice a negative reaction in your body, then it is better to refrain from consuming pumpkin.

Important! Pumpkin seeds are especially harmful for expectant mothers.- they can cause premature birth... If you want to include a pumpkin in your menu during the period of bearing a child, you should first consult a doctor.

Frequent consumption of seeds can provoke nausea and vomiting. And pumpkin juice can cause side effects - bloating, diarrhea and nausea.

Chemical composition and calorie content

100 g of pumpkin contains:

• proteins - 0.9 g;
• carbohydrates - 5.9 g (including mono- and disaccharides - 4.1 g);
• pectins - 0.3 g;
• organic acids - 0.1 g

The amount of water in the vegetable is 90.2 g, and the ash - 0.5 g. The saturation of the fruit with fiber is 1.2 g. Pumpkin is famous for its considerable concentration of vitamins.

The organics in the product are represented as follows:

• retinol - 1.4 mg;
• thiamine - 0.05 mg;
• riboflavin - 0.06 mg;
• niacin - 0.5 mg;
• folic acid - 6 mcg;
• ascorbic acid - 14 mg.

Macronutrients irreplaceable for the body are found in orange fruits in such quantities:

• potassium - 200 mg;
• calcium - 26 mg;
• magnesium - 14 mg;
• sodium - 4 mg;
• phosphorus - 24 mg.

Saturation with trace elements:

• iron - 0.4 mg;
• iodine - 1 μg;
• cobalt - 1 μg;
• manganese - 38 mcg;
• copper - 180 mcg;
• fluorine - 84 μg;
• zinc - 240 mcg.

Pumpkin is characterized by a fairly high energy value: 100 g of raw product contains on average about 25 kcal.

Important! The calorie content of pumpkin seeds is 25 times higher than the calorie content of the pulp: 100 g of seeds contains 556 kcal.

Application features

In cooking

Pumpkin has found application in recipes for various dishes from the cuisines of most countries. It is most popular in Europe, as well as in the Americas.

Pumpkin can be subjected to different types of heat treatment: bake, boil, steam. The vegetable is suitable for making soups, as a filling for pies, as a side dish for meat dishes, as a basis for the production of puddings and desserts.

Pumpkin. Finely chopped fruit is added to various cereals, which will make them even more nutritious. They use it without processing - in a chopped, grated form, squeezing juice out of it. Pumpkins can be preserved for the winter. Muscat fruits are ideal for preservation.

Sunflower seeds are eaten both raw and dried. They can complement salads, vegetable stews, and also become ingredients for breakfast cereals. In addition, the seeds can be ground with honey. Useful oil is made from them. Such products have a specific nutty aroma and a slight bitterness in taste.

You can also get a drink similar to almond milk from the seeds. To do this, the pre-soaked raw materials are ground in a blender, then the resulting mass is mixed with water.

Pumpkin seeds are popular in Mexican cuisine. On their basis, sauces traditional for this country are produced.

Pumpkin leaves have an exquisite taste. They can be eaten raw and added to salads. The smell of boiled tops is similar to that of spinach. Pumpkin greens are a great ingredient in soups.

For treatment

Did you know? In the United States, the largest pumpkin pie was baked with a diameter of 152 cm. Bakers used 3 kg of vegetables, 1.5 kg of granulated sugar and 144 eggs to make it. The giant delicacy was baked for about 6 hours.

For deworming, a decoction of 400-500 g of unrefined seeds is used, which are drunk on an empty stomach, and 2 hours after taking it, you need to empty the esophagus with a saline laxative. Sunflower seeds are also used for dysfunction of the bladder.

In pharmacology, pumpkin pulp is especially prized as it is an excellent source of carotene. The pulp, boiled with honey, is useful for heart problems, as well as for liver and kidney ailments, suppresses the feeling of nausea in expectant mothers.

In addition, it is good as a metabolic booster, as well as a mild laxative and diuretic. For these purposes, a raw pumpkin or a grated product is used. A decoction of cuttings also has a good diuretic effect.

For the intestines, porridge cooked from pulp, honey and wheat groats is useful. It is used for colitis, if there are difficulties with bowel cleansing. A good choleretic effect can be achieved if 0.5 kg of raw product is eaten daily for about three months.

You can also take a baked or boiled analogue - 1.5-3 kg. A decoction made from 15–20 g of plant tails and 2 glasses of water has the same effect. The composition must be boiled for a quarter of an hour.

In chronic cystitis, pumpkin porridge is shown: twice a day for 50 g. Fresh nectar is also good in this case - 2-3 doses are needed daily. Thanks to the juice (0.5 glasses a day), you can relieve swelling, improve bowel function, and accelerate the excretion of salts from the body.

Regular intake of fresh pumpkin nectar or decoction with honey helps against insomnia. The people also practice external use of the vegetable. Compresses from pumpkin juice are prescribed for burns, psoriasis, dermatitis. In case of periodontal disease, it is recommended to rinse the mouth with fresh orange fruit juice. A decoction of flowers can also be applied to the wounds.

In cosmetology

Due to the high concentration of valuable trace elements and organic substances in the pulp, it is often used in the production of various natural masks for hair and skin. Masks are prepared from chopped raw or boiled pulp: the products moisturize and nourish the epidermis.

To prepare a mask for dry skin, egg yolk, honey, milk and raw pulp are mixed in equal amounts. And in a mixture with egg whites, masks for oily skin are obtained. Thanks to the anti-inflammatory properties of pumpkin, cosmetics containing this vegetable can help relieve acne from the skin.

There are also recipes for lightening age spots using gruel based on crushed pumpkin seeds. For this, 1 tbsp. l. seeds are mixed with a similar amount of sour milk, add 1 tsp. lemon juice and honey. The composition is applied to the skin for 15 minutes, after which it is washed off with cold water.

Cosmetologists from Japan and Korea create cosmetics based on pumpkin extract, positioning them as moisturizers.

To solve the problem of split ends of the hair, the peeled and crushed seeds are diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. The composition is applied to the hair, then the head is covered with a towel for 30 minutes. After the specified time, the remnants of the mask are washed off with soapy water.

Did you know? In ancient times in Ukraine, pumpkin served as part of matchmaking. An autumn vegetable was handed over to unenviable suitors.

Pumpkin is a melon culture. It is a heat-loving, heat-resistant, light-loving, drought-resistant plant. Sowing seeds should be carried out at an air temperature of at least + 14 ° C and a soil of about 10 ° C. The site itself should be located in a sunny location.

In case of lower temperatures, there is a great chance that the planted seeds will not sprout. It is advisable to plant the pumpkin on an impromptu pile of compost: form a depression on the site, add two buckets of fertile soil (with humus and manure) there and plant the seeds.
To maintain the moisture content of the soil, cover the part of the garden free of plantings with earth or polyethylene. If there is a lack of moisture, water the soil with warm water before sowing: this will increase the chances of successful cultivation of the pumpkin.

When propagating the presented culture with seedlings, it is necessary to transplant the grown shoots into open ground in mid-May or early summer. Maintain a distance of at least 1 meter between plants, as the bush grows strongly.

You can also propagate pumpkin by transferring pollen. For the purpose of artificial pollination, only the first female flowers of strong and healthy plants are selected. You need to pollinate flowers by hand every day.

To prevent the vegetables from touching the ground, you need to put a small board under each grown pumpkin on the site. Otherwise, the fruit will rot.

It is not difficult to take care of the crop: you need to weed the beds as needed, loosen, water.

Use enough water for irrigation without letting the soil dry out. In addition, the plant needs to be well fed with nitrogen and potassium fertilizers.

In order for the plant to please the size and quality of its fruits, it should be cut off. In a late-ripening pumpkin, you need to pinch the stem. If you neglect this procedure and do not remove the top, the pumpkin will stop growing in length, and the remaining leaves will switch to feeding the already formed fruits.
Also remember to pick flowers during July and August. With regard to the question of whether the plant is tied during cultivation, everything is unambiguous here - the installation of a support is a mandatory procedure. It is necessary to collect fruits from the garden in early autumn, in dry weather. The sign of when to cut the fruit is the color of the leaves - they lose their green color and begin to turn yellow.

Collection and storage

Remove the fruits carefully, always cutting them off together with the tails. As for why the stalks should not be cut off - in ripe fruits, they easily fall off themselves.

For further storage, select unharmed samples without abrasions and cuts on the skin. Keep the harvested crop in the sun for a while, until the skin is dry and strong.

Important! When picking pumpkin, in no case should damage the peel: try to remove the fruits very carefully.

After harvest, sort the crop by size, quality and ripeness. In a dark place, whole fruits can be stored for several weeks. Storage can be a room with a temperature of + 10 ... + 20 ° C or a ventilated basement with dry air and a temperature of at least + 4 ° C.

Large-fruited varieties can lie until May, while their taste and nutritional characteristics only increase. The cut pumpkin should be kept only in the refrigerator (no longer than 30 days).

As you can see, in terms of its beneficial effect on the human body, pumpkin can be compared and even leave behind many plant cultures used in cooking, folk medicine, and cosmetology.

Hello dear friends! Even people far from science are well aware of such a botanical family as Pumpkin, because the representatives of this family are plants that are familiar to everyone from childhood.

The history of human civilization owes much to vegetable pumpkin crops: in the Old World, in pre-Columbian America, and on various oceanic islands, they were used as one of the most important elements of food, in addition, as a medicine, as well as for making dishes and even musical instruments. toys.

Originally from the warm tropics and subtropics, the Pumpkin family gradually moved to more northern regions as truck farming developed. With the advent of capital greenhouses, it became possible to cultivate some tropical vegetables even in the Far North.

Traditional cultures

What plants belong to the pumpkin plant botanical family? First of all, vegetables familiar to us, widely cultivated in vegetable gardens - pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini (including zucchini), squash.

In addition, melons, watermelons, allocated in a special group. Sometimes crooknek is also grown - a special type of pumpkin, more like a squash (with curved warty fruits). Original decorative pumpkins are in great fashion.

Exotics

The list of useful representatives of the pumpkin would not be complete without mentioning the more exotic members of the family. They can be successfully grown in our gardens and summer cottages: in warm regions - even by direct sowing in open ground, in more northern regions - through seedlings and in greenhouses.

These are the original herbaceous vines, which are usually planted for decorative purposes, although they are all edible to some extent.

Especially interesting are such as

• (distinguish between bottle and log-shaped) - one of the fastest growing,

• edible cyclanter (Peruvian cucumber) and exploding cyclanter,
• squirting cucumber,
• chayote (Mexican cucumber),
• (horned cucumber, aka Antillean cucumber, watermelon cucumber),
• (Indian pomegranate),
• trichozant (Japanese is especially interesting),
• (wax gourd).

Enthusiasts also cultivate the Armenian cucumber (snake melon), various varieties of cucumber, the “lemon” cucumber Crystal apple and other fancy vegetables of the numerous pumpkin family.

It is impossible not to mention another original pumpkin culture - Luffa. Its unripe fruits are eaten, and those that have reached biological ripeness are digested, resulting in excellent fibrous sponges, appreciated for their naturalness and excellent massage properties.

Aggressor - Red Cucumber

In the original natural environment, various plants of the Pumpkin family are annual and perennial. In perennial species, special tubers are often formed in the underground part. On our land, we grow all pumpkin seeds as annuals. But there is one unusual exception.

The Far East is the homeland of the northernmost representative of the family, (otherwise called red cucumber), whose tubers are able to overwinter in northern latitudes.

This is a real aggressor, the underground part of which is growing rapidly and captures large living spaces.

It is very easy to bring such a miracle into the garden, but getting rid of it is not easy. True, the tladiant is very decorative, looks great on trellises and near walls well lit by the sun.

Every year from overwintered underground nodules grow powerful herbaceous vines, often 3 and even 6 meters long, densely covered with pubescent foliage in the shape of hearts.

It blooms almost all summer with small yellowish flowers. With manual additional pollination, quite a lot of original bright red cucumber fruits can be tied, quite edible, fresh in taste.

They had a common ancestor

Modern sciences (molecular and evolutionary botany, paleobotany, genetics) prove that each family from the diverse kingdom of flora has its own special distant ancestor. It is from him that descendants inherit specific general characteristics - such as the formula of a flower (its structure), characteristics of fruits and seeds, the shape of the stem and foliage, etc.

Briefly speaking about the Pumpkin family, then its representatives are characterized by:

• the superficial nature of the branched root system,
• herbaceous stem, often hollow, with stiff fibers, liana-like, creeping or climbing, often with antennae,
• leaf is simple, petioled, usually pubescent,
• flowers are most often unisexual (separately male and female), more often solitary (less often inflorescence), with five petals, do not differ in color variety: mostly yellow (but there are also white, light green, reddish).

• multi-seeded fruit; earlier science attributed it to berries, and modern botany introduced a specialthe term "pumpkin"
• dicotyledonous seeds.

The main features of agricultural technology

All pumpkin loves:

• warmth, warmth and again warmth - both in the air and in the root zone;
• an abundance of sunlight;
• moderately humid air and soil (only melons prefer drier);
• loose, very nutritious, neutral (without excess acidity) soil.

Nutritional value

All pumpkin seeds have a low calorie content, are suitable for baby and dietetic food (including for diabetics), rarely cause allergies (except for some orange pumpkins).

Fruits carry powerful charges of carotenoids - the most important vitamin compounds, as well as phytosterols, mineral elements.

Surprisingly, even sweet pumpkins are low in sugar. And ordinary cucumbers contain a lot of the rare element silver, which helps the human body kill dangerous germs.

Vegetables of the Pumpkin family are especially valued for the fact that they are convenient to harvest for future use - either kept fresh for a long time or dried (pumpkins, zucchini), or salted (cucumbers, watermelons, etc.).

• It is interesting!

Not all plants of the Pumpkin family are easily pollinated among themselves. If you plan to get pure-quality seeds, you should not plant pumpkins (and crocknecchi), zucchini (and zucchini), squash next to it.

But melons, cucumbers and watermelons in nature do not genetically interbreed with each other. However, it is believed that next to cucumbers that have male flowers, melon fruits can grow savory.

With the help of genetic manipulations, breeders managed to breed outlandish monsters - for example, such a superhybrid as kavbuz (a cross between a pumpkin and a watermelon, which is more curative than tasty).

With all respect, Andrew

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30.01.2018

Hello dear friends! Even people far from science are well aware of such a botanical family as Pumpkin, because the representatives of this family are plants that are familiar to every person from childhood.

The history of human civilization owes a lot to vegetable pumpkin crops: in the Old World, in pre-Columbian America, and on various oceanic islands, they were used as one of the most important elements of food, in addition, as a medicine, as well as for making dishes and even musical instruments. toys.

Originally from the warm tropics and subtropics, the Pumpkin family gradually moved to more northern regions as truck farming developed. With the advent of capital greenhouses, it became possible to cultivate some tropical vegetables even in the Far North.

Traditional cultures

What plants belong to the pumpkin plant botanical family? First of all, vegetables familiar to us, widely cultivated in vegetable gardens - pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini (including zucchini), squash.

In addition, melons, watermelons, allocated in a special group. Sometimes crooknek is also grown - a special type of pumpkin, more like a squash (with curved warty fruits). Original decorative pumpkins are in great fashion.

Exotics

The list of useful representatives of the pumpkin would not be complete without mentioning the more exotic members of the family. They can be successfully grown in our gardens and summer cottages: in warm regions - even by direct sowing in open ground, in more northern ones - through seedlings and in greenhouses.

These are the original herbaceous vines, which are usually planted for decorative purposes, although they are all edible to some extent.

Especially interesting are such as

• lagenaria (distinguish between bottle and log-shaped) - one of the fastest growing,

• edible cyclanter (Peruvian cucumber) and exploding cyclanter,
• squirting cucumber,
• chayote (Mexican cucumber),
• anguria (horned cucumber, aka Antillean cucumber, watermelon cucumber),
• momordica (Indian pomegranate),
• trichozant (Japanese is especially interesting),
• melotria rough,
• benincasa (wax gourd).

Enthusiasts also cultivate the Armenian cucumber (snake melon), various varieties of cucumber, the “lemon” cucumber, the Crystal Apple and other fancy vegetables of the numerous pumpkin family.

It is impossible not to mention another original pumpkin culture - Luffa. Its unripe fruits are eaten, and those that have reached biological ripeness are digested, obtaining excellent fibrous sponges, appreciated for their naturalness and excellent massage properties.

Aggressor - Red Cucumber

In the original natural environment, various plants of the Pumpkin family are annual and perennial. Perennial species often develop special tubers in the underground part. On our land, we grow all pumpkin seeds as annuals. But there is one unusual exception.

The Far East is the homeland of the northernmost representative of the family, dubious tladians (otherwise called red cucumber), whose tubers are able to overwinter in northern latitudes.

This is a real aggressor, the underground part of which is growing rapidly and captures large living spaces.

It is very easy to bring such a miracle into the garden, but getting rid of it is not easy. True, the tladiant is very decorative, looks great on trellises and near walls well lit by the sun.

Every year from overwintered underground nodules grow powerful herbaceous vines, often 3 and even 6 meters long, densely covered with pubescent foliage in the shape of hearts.

It blooms almost all summer with small yellowish flowers. With manual additional pollination, quite a lot of original bright red cucumber fruits can be tied, quite edible, fresh in taste.

They had a common ancestor

Modern sciences (molecular and evolutionary botany, paleobotany, genetics) prove that each family from the diverse kingdom of flora has its own special distant ancestor. It is from him that descendants inherit specific general characteristics - such as the formula of the flower (its structure), the characteristics of fruits and seeds, the shape of the stem and foliage, etc.

Briefly speaking about the Pumpkin family, then its representatives are characterized by:

• the superficial nature of the branched root system,
• herbaceous stem, often hollow, with rigid fibers, liana-like, creeping or climbing, often with antennae,
• leaf is simple, petioled, usually pubescent,
• flowers are most often unisexual (male and female separately), more often solitary (less often inflorescence), with five petals, do not differ in color variety: mostly yellow (but there are also white, light green, reddish).

• multi-seeded fruit; earlier science attributed it to berries, and modern botany introduced the special term "pumpkin",
• dicotyledonous seeds.

The main features of agricultural technology

All pumpkin loves:

• warmth, warmth and again warmth - both in the air and in the root zone;
• an abundance of sunlight;
• moderately humid air and soil (only melons prefer drier);
• loose, very nutritious, neutral (without excess acidity) soil.

Nutritional value

All pumpkin seeds have a low calorie content, are suitable for baby and dietetic food (including diabetics), rarely cause allergies (except for some orange pumpkins).

Fruits carry powerful charges of carotenoids - the most important vitamin compounds, as well as phytosterols, mineral elements.

Surprisingly, even sweet pumpkins are low in sugar. And common cucumbers contain a lot of the rare element silver, which helps the human body to kill dangerous microbes.

Vegetables of the Pumpkin family are especially valued for the fact that they are convenient to harvest for future use - either kept fresh for a long time or dried (pumpkins, zucchini), or salted (cucumbers, watermelons, etc.).

• It is interesting!

Not all plants of the Pumpkin family are easily pollinated among themselves. If you plan to get pure-quality seeds, you should not plant pumpkins (and crocknecchi), zucchini (and zucchini), squash next to it.

But melons, cucumbers and watermelons in nature do not genetically interbreed with each other. However, it is believed that next to cucumbers that have male flowers, melons can grow savory.

With the help of genetic manipulations, breeders managed to breed outlandish monsters - for example, such a superhybrid as kavbuz (a cross between a pumpkin and a watermelon, which is more curative than tasty).

The pumpkin family unites quite diverse representatives - from the well-known cucumber and zucchini to the very exotic sikan and trichozant - more than a hundred genera and almost a thousand species, mostly growing in tropical countries. However, some of them quite successfully acclimatized in our latitudes, and today they can be found in almost any garden plot of central Russia.

Almost all types of the pumpkin family are widely used: some have edible fruits (cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, watermelons), others are suitable for making various vessels and musical instruments (lagenaria), sponges and padding (luffa), hats and mats (chayote) , some species have medicinal properties or used as ornamental plants.

The most popular pumpkin crops on our household plots - these are cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins and squash, melons and watermelons are less common. Some Russian amateur vegetable growers successfully grow quite exotic crops of this family, such as Anguria, Lagenaria, Momordica, Luffa, etc.

Cucumber is one of the favorite vegetables for Russians. What a feast in Russia can do without a crispy cucumber! A native of distant India, known to manAt least three thousand years before the new era, this vegetable was loved to eat in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. And in ancient Rome, it was grown in greenhouses all year round. Having got from Byzantium to Russia, the cucumber became a real national favorite. Today in our country, cucumbers are grown in summer in open ground, in spring, winter and autumn - in a sheltered, and just at home: on windowsills, balconies, loggias and verandas.

The round-faced queen of the garden - pumpkin - is an excellent vegetable crop. For many peoples of the world, this vegetable is a symbol of abundance and prosperity. It is widely cultivated in all countries of the world, on all continents of the Earth, in a variety of climatic conditions. In Russia, the most popular are three types of pumpkin - large-fruited pumpkin, hard pumpkin and butternut pumpkin. Pumpkin is not only a tasty and nutritious, but also a healthy vegetable with medicinal properties, it is easily absorbed by the body and helps to resist a whole range of various diseases.

Zucchini and zucchini, which are varieties of pumpkin, are no less popular with gardeners.

Squash tastes little different from asparagus and artichoke, and in canned form, resembling porcini mushrooms, are considered even more useful than zucchini. Young fruits of squash have a high nutritional value, they are good and fried, and boiled, and stewed, and pickled. In addition, the squash is very decorative, resembling a plate with jagged edges, a kind of UFO in the garden.

Family dicotyledonous plants... Herbs (creeping or climbing), less often dwarf shrubs or shrubs, some tree-like plants. OK. 900 species (over 100 genera), mainly in the tropics and subtropics. Of the wild ones, a step is known ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Cucurbitaceae), a family of dicotyledonous plants of the order violet. Creeping or climbing (clinging tendrils) grasses, rarely shrubs, 1 species (Dendrosicyos socotranus) tree plant. The flowers are correct, b. including unisexual (plants ... ... Biological encyclopedic dictionary

Yh; pl. Nerd. The family of dicotyledonous plants, which includes pumpkin, squash, watermelon, melon, cucumber, etc. * * * pumpkin family of dicotyledonous plants. Herbs (creeping or climbing), less often half-shrubs or shrubs, some tree-like ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Cucurbitaceae) family of dicotyledonous plants. Creeping or climbing grasses, rarely dwarf shrubs. 1 genus Dendrosicyos (Socotra Island) tree-like plants. T. one or dioecious plants; flowers are usually unisexual, for the most part ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (Cucurbitacese Juss.) A family of dicotyledonous plants, belonging, according to some authors, to the dicotyledonous of the order Passiflorinae, according to others, to the spine-petals of the order Campanulinae. The vast majority of T. (there are up to 600 species of them) ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Mn. Plants of the dicotyledonous family, which include pumpkin, squash, watermelon, melon, cucumber, etc. Efremova's explanatory dictionary. T.F. Efremova. 2000 ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova

The family of dicotyledons. Grasses (creeping or climbing), less often dwarf shrubs or shrubs, certain arboreal rhenia. OK. 900 species (over 100 genera), Ch. arr. in the tropics and subtropics. Among the wild ones, a cross, a mad cucumber and others are known ... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary

PUMPKIN - (Cucurbitaceae), a family of dicotyledonous flowering rnias. In the main. annual herbaceous plants with climbing or creeping stems. The leaves are alternate, cordate, palmate-lobed or finger-dissected. Flowers are usually dioecious ... ... Agricultural Encyclopedic Dictionary

pumpkin - s; pl; nerd. A family of dicotyledonous plants, which includes pumpkin, squash, watermelon, melon, cucumber, etc. Dictionary of many expressions

Vinata, besides Aruna and Garuda, had a beautiful daughter, Sumati. She became the wife of the mighty and wise king Sagara, who ruled at that time in Ayodhya, who subjugated the barbarian peoples of the Yavans and Scythians, Cambodia and Pahlavi to his rule. Was at ... ... Encyclopedia of mythology

Books

• Pumpkin stories. Cozy recipes for the cold season, Natalia Beloskurskaya. Autumn is the season for pumpkins, just have time to bring home. So what to cook? Well, soup, well, porridge, well, maybe another pie. Ivse? No, not all! How about ...
• Pumpkin stories Cozy recipes for the cold season, Beloskurskaya N. With the onset of autumn, a pumpkin appears on the shelves of markets and supermarkets. Do not pass by the red-haired beauty, grab a few! There are so many useful minerals in pumpkin and ...