Flora of Victoria

Annual, trailing herb with hairy stems. Leaf-lamina 2.5–7 cm long, 2.5–8 cm wide, palmately 3–5-lobed, the lobes ovate, sinuate-dentate to pinnately 3–7-lobed, glabrescent to sparsely scabrous above, coarsely scabrous-hairy below, margins flat; petiole 1–6.5 cm long, hairy; tendrils 2–4-branched. Male flowers on pedicels 1–8 cm long; petals 0.5–1.5 cm long, yellow. Female flowers on pedicels 0.5–1.5 cm long; petals 0.5-lcm long, yellow. Fruit 1.5–10 cm diam., globose, green with cream mottling or irregular stripes; pedicel 2–4 cm long; seeds 9–12 mm long, brown, smooth with rough darker markings. Flowers Mar.–May.

*Gold, *LoM, *MuF, *MuM, *MSB, *NIS, *OtP, *RobP, *VRiv, *VVP, *Wim. Naturalized all mainland States. Native of tropical and southern Africa, tropical Asia. Occurs in disturbed sites such as railway sidings, saleyards and on roadsides.

Chomicki & Renner (2015) maintain that the correct name for Camel Melon is Citrullus amara Schrad., but Shaik et al. (2016) suggest this assertion is premature.

Watermelons are a cultivated variant of C. lanatus.

Source: Jobson, P.C. (1996). Cucurbitaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J. (eds), Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae. Inkata Press, Melbourne.

Updated by: Neville Walsh, 2018-02-16

References

Chomicki, G. & Renner, S.S. (2015). Watermelon origin solved with molecular phylogenetics including Linnaean material: another example of museomics., New Phytologist 205: 526-532.

Shaik, R.S.; Lepschi, B.J.; Gopurenko, D.; Urwin, N.A.R.; Burrows, G.E. & Weston, L.A. (2016). An integrative morphological and molecular approach to identification of three Australian cucurbitaceous invasive weeds: Citrullus colocynthis, C. lanatus and Cucumis myriocarpus, Australian Systematic Botany 29 (5): 247-264.

life Life

kingdom Plantae

phylum Tracheophyta

class Magnoliopsida

superorder Rosanae

order Cucurbitales

family Cucurbitaceae

genus Citrullus

Higher taxa

species Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai

Victoria

**Source:** AVH (2014). *Australia's Virtual Herbarium*, Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, <http://avh.chah.org.au>. Find Citrullus lanatus in AVH ; *Victorian Biodiversity Atlas*, © The State of Victoria, Department of Environment and Primary Industries (published Dec. 2014) Find Citrullus lanatus in Victorian Biodiversity Atlas

Bioregion	Occurrence status	Establishment means
Lowan Mallee	present	naturalised
Murray Mallee	present	naturalised
Wimmera	present	naturalised
Victorian Volcanic Plain	present	naturalised
Victorian Riverina	present	naturalised
Murray Scroll Belt	present	naturalised
Robinvale Plains	present	naturalised
Murray Fans	present	naturalised
Otway Plain	present	naturalised
Goldfields	present	naturalised
Northern Inland Slopes	present	naturalised

Bioregions of Victoria

State distribution

State
Western Australia
Northern Territory
South Australia
Queensland
New South Wales
Australian Capital Territory
Victoria
Tasmania