Cat. Semin. Spor. Hort. Bot. Univ. Imp. Tokyo 30: no. 854 (1916) APNI
Taxonomic status:Accepted
Occurrence status:Present
Establishment means:Naturalised
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.
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.
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 |
State |
---|
Western Australia |
Northern Territory |
South Australia |
Queensland |
New South Wales |
Australian Capital Territory |
Victoria |
Tasmania |