Keys for and morphological character variation in some Egyptian cultivars of Cucurbitaceae

Abstract

The cultivated varieties and landraces of

Cucurbitaceae growing in Egypt are presented, 27

taxa, belonging to three genera, six species, and *ve

subspecies. These characters are arranged according to

their usefulness for identifications as follow: fruit

characters, seed characters and trichome type. Fruit

characters are a good taxonomic tool at varietal level

when combined with the other vegetative characters.

Two keys to 27 cultivated varieties of Cucurbitaceae

(Cucumis, Cucurbita and Luffa) were constructed

using the DELTA software system. One key is used for

identification, and then the other is used as a confirmatory

key. Those keys were built using 36 morphological

characters include vegetative, *oral, fruit and

seed characters. There is a significant correlation

between seed size and growth parameters. The growth

parameters of the studied taxa included leaf length/

size, petiole length and corolla length. There is a

highly positive, signi*cant correlation between seed

volume and leaf size (r = 0.81831, P B 0.001), seed

volume and petiole length (r = 0.79112, P B 0.001),

seed volume and leaf length (r = 0.83566, P B 0.001

and seed volume and corolla length (r = 0.59108,

P B 0.001).

),