Benincasa pruriens f. pruriens
Description
Plants generally of a more delicate stature compared to cultivated form hispida;
Flowers smaller, in male 50-70 mm diameter.
Fruit globose or ellipsoid (subacute at both ends), 4-8 cm long;
Seeds 7-8 mm long, embedded in rather juicy whitish pulp.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Borneo present; Lesser Sunda Is. present; New Guinea present; Sulawesi (Sulawesi present), Australasia: Queensland (Queensland present), East Java present, New Ireland present, Papua New Guinea present, Solomon Islands present, islands in the Pacific present, south-east through Malesia toAustralia present
Indochina,south-east through Malesia toAustralia (Queensland), Solomon Islands, and islands in the Pacific; in Malesia: Borneo, East Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, New Guinea (Papua New Guinea (New Ireland, fruit ellipsoid)).
Morphology
Forms similar to the truly wild form of Benincasa pruriens possibly are feral forms, developed from escaped populations of the cultivated form hispida in natural places. As the oldest collections of the wild form, with very small fruits, come from East Malesia, Queensland, and The Pacific, this area is the most plausible original place of occurrence of Benincasa.