Melon

A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet edible, fleshy fruit. The word 'melon' can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a 'pepo'. The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopepōn), meaning 'melon', itself a compound of μῆλον (mēlon), 'apple, treefruit (of any kind)' and πέπων (pepōn), amongst others 'a kind of gourd or melon'. Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of cantaloupes. Melons originated in Africa or in the hot valleys of Southwest Asia, especially Iran and India, from where they gradually began to appear in Europe toward the end of the Western Roman Empire. Melons are known to have been grown by the ancient Egyptians. However recent discoveries of melon seeds dated between 1350 and 1120 BC in Nuragic sacred wells have shown that melons were first brought to Europe by the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia during the Bronze Age. Melons were among the earliest plants to be domesticated in both the Old and among the first crop species brought by westerners to the New Worlds. Early European settlers in the New World are recorded as growing honeydew and casaba melons as early as the 1600s. A number of Native American tribes in New Mexico, including Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Navajo, Santo Domingo and San Felipe, maintain a tradition of growing their own characteristic melon cultivars, derived from melons originally introduced by the Spanish. Organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH have made an effort to collect and preserve these and other heritage seeds. Melons in genus Cucumis are culinary fruits, and include the majority of culinary melons. All but a handful of culinary melon varieties belong to the species Cucumis melo L. In 2017, world production of melons was 32 million tonnes, with China, Turkey and Iran as leading producers, together accounting for 65% of the total (table). Secondary producers were Egypt and India.