Citrullus colocynthis
(L.) Schrad. · speciesAt a glance
Sources14 archives
Databases and archives Citrullus colocynthis's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation15 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility3 682 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI20 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics29 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
dukesphytochemcompounds
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotypeEvery layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Citrullus colocynthis, with many common names including Abu Jahl's melon, (native name in Turkey) colocynth, bitter apple, bitter cucumber, egusi, vine of Sodom, or wild gourd, is a desert viny plant native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia, especially Turkey (especially in regions such as İzmir), and Nubia. It resembles a common watermelon vine, but bears small, hard fruits with a bitter pulp. It originally bore the scientific name Colocynthis citrullus.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology21
Life cycle & reproduction13
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment14
Physiology & chemistry3
Other traits4
Compounds documented for Citrullus colocynthis across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds161 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| FAT | 510,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| ALPHA-MANNITOL | 6,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| ALPHA-ELATERIN-2-D-GLYCOPYRANOSIDE | 2,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| ASCORBIC-ACID | 122 ppm | DukesPhytochem |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Citrullus colocynthis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Citrullus colocynthis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 2211×CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 · CCDB · book-indian_vol1 · CCDB · book-fedorov +2
2n 242×CCDB · book-indian_vol1 · CCDB · book-fedorov
n 115×CCDB · book-ipcn65 · CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn75-78
polyploid inferred1×PloiDB · family-scale
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type3 682 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions41 of 81 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Adelaide, AU | 109 |
| Palmerston, AU | 88 |
| Brisbane, AU | 59 |
| Canberra, AU | 43 |
| Kensington, AU | 35 |
| Museo Entomologico de Leonlocation not on record | 34 |
| Mount Annan, AU | 19 |
| Kew, GB | 17 |
| Berlin, DE | 14 |
| QAUlocation not on record | 13 |
| Wlocation not on record | 13 |
| Smithfield, AU | 13 |
| Edinburgh, GB | 13 |
| Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record | 10 |
| Rishon Le Zion, IL | 10 |
| GMBAlocation not on record | 9 |
| Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicachlocation not on record | 9 |
| BDBClocation not on record | 9 |
| MeiseBGlocation not on record | 9 |
| Armidale, AU | 7 |
| BClocation not on record | 7 |
| LDlocation not on record | 7 |
| BIO-UNIPIlocation not on record | 6 |
| South Kensington, GB | 5 |
| Uppsala, SE | 5 |
| Paris, FR | 5 |
| MAlocation not on record | 5 |
| Government College University Lahore, Dr. Sultan Ahmad Herbariumlocation not on record | 5 |
| Xiamen, CN | 5 |
| Phyletisches Museum Jenalocation not on record | 4 |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique / Institut de l'environnement et de recherches agricoleslocation not on record | 4 |
| Barcelona, ES | 4 |
| Pondicherry, IN | 4 |
| Claremont, US | 4 |
| Hobart, AU | 4 |
| Sharjah Seed Bank & Herbariumlocation not on record | 3 |
| Granada, ES | 3 |
| Moscow State Universitylocation not on record | 3 |
| Leiden University Medical Centerlocation not on record | 3 |
| HNBlocation not on record | 3 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 3 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 3 |
| PRClocation not on record | 3 |
| Stockholm, SE | 3 |
| Saint Louis, US | 3 |
| NSW Dept of Planning, Industry and Environmentlocation not on record | 2 |
| Córdoba, AR | 2 |
| Philadelphia, US | 2 |
| National Herbarium of São Tomé and Principelocation not on record | 2 |
| Sevilla, ES | 2 |
| ESP026location not on record | 2 |
| Bronx, US | 2 |
| Corrientes, AR | 2 |
| College of the Atlantic, Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Hargeisalocation not on record | 1 |
| CPATSAlocation not on record | 1 |
| SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record | 1 |
| Miami, US | 1 |
| Burlington, US | 1 |
| University of Guelph, OAC Herbariumlocation not on record | 1 |
| EEZA-CSIClocation not on record | 1 |
| Salamanca, ES | 1 |
| Post Graduate College Bannulocation not on record | 1 |
| Staatliches Museum fuer Naturkunde Karlsruhe (State Museum of Natural History)location not on record | 1 |
| Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record | 1 |
| BFLlocation not on record | 1 |
| Podgorica, ME | 1 |
| Görlitz, DE | 1 |
| Flagstaff, US | 1 |
| Coimbra, PT | 1 |
| Shinshu Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| GZUlocation not on record | 1 |
| DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 1 |
| Bloomington, US | 1 |
| Santa Barbara, US | 1 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 1 |
| Tampa, US | 1 |
| John T. Waterhouse Herbariumlocation not on record | 1 |
| NSW Office of Environment and Heritagelocation not on record | 1 |
| Riverside, US | 1 |
| Vitoria, ES | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Citrullus colocynthis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.