Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis var. conomon

Cucumis melo L. subsp. agrestis (Naudin) Pangalo var. conomon (Thunb.) Makino, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 16:16. 1902 (Syn: (≡) “Cucumis melo subsp. conomon (Thunb.) Greb., nom. inval.“; (=) Cucumis melo var. utilissimus (Roxb.) Duthie & J. B. Fuller; (=) Cucumis utilissimus Roxb.);

Images by Aarti Khale – Id by Gurcharan Singh

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Madras Cucumber : Cucumis Species : Bangalore : 220114 : AK-13 : Attachments (2). 9 posts by 4 authors.

Saw this vegetable in the Bangalore market during my visit in Nov,13.

Popularly known as Madras cucumber.

This is also known as mangalore cucumber (mangaluru southekai in kannada). Very common in Dakshina Kannada area.

… it is in my book

Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis var. conomon.

This particular fruits in the post are of a cultivar of Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis.

Common Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis will not exceed 10 cm in length, and will be bitter in taste before maturity. Whereas, this particular cultivar (Mangalore southe kaay) grows upto 25cm x 20 cm in size, and will be sweet (rather I can say, NOT BITTER) always.

The pulp texture has a range of variation.

This fruit in the picture is called mage-kaayi/ moge-kaayi in Coastal Karnataka.

A common vegetable in the backyard garden of my home too !

Cucumis melo subsp. agrestis var. conomon has many forms in cultivation, differing from cucumber (with which they often been confused in past but have white flesh as against greenish white in cucumber). Some of these were earlier also separated under var. mukuwa Makino, and var. conomon (Thunb.) Makino under C. melo directly. These include

1. Malabar cucumber, golden yellow

2. Kani Vellari, golden yellow with green patches as above case

3. Chinese Dua gang similar with smaller fruits

4. Dosakai or Dosakaya with larger fruits with green patches turning brown when mature.

All above used as vegetable

5. Korean melon, golden yellow with white sutures, used as table fruit.

Thank you … for the interesting inputs

In that case, the one in my garden (moge kaayi) must be Dosakai or Dosakaya

(Yes, we prepare the delicious DOSA from the same fruit ! )

Thanks … for this information.

I had seen a lot of dosakai in California Indian stores. Most earlier books and some websites still list it as Cucumis sativus, but white flesh and leaves are distinctive. I have described this and many others in my recent book “Know your Fruits and Vegetables: Cucurbits”

C.melo var. conomon nutritional facts requirement reg :

I am writing the mail so as to get the information regarding nutritional value and medicinal uses of C.melo var. conomon. As in our university we are researching on it, and my work as a Biochemistry staff is to check the nutritional status and its medicinal values. But I am unable to find any literature pertaining to same. Hence I request in your kindself to kindly provide any article or document related to above, which will be helpful to our research. In hope of positive result