Cucumis sativus

Cucumis sativus L. (subtrop. As.) – A very rare and always ephemeral food refuse alien (cucumber, gherkin). Recorded in 1950 on a dump in Mechelen and in 2003 on the gravelly borders of river Meuse. Most recently seen in Tisselt in 2015. Cucumis sativus is, although much eaten, very rarely seen on dumps. According to Grenfell (1984) the fruit is eaten before the seed matures.

Selected literature:

Grenfell A.L. (1984) Cucurbitaceae in Britain. BSBI News 38: 13-18. [available online at: http://archive.bsbi.org.uk/BSBINews38.pdf]

Pas H.N. ten, Schoenaker J.W.P., Oost E.H. & Jarvis C.E. (1985) Re-lectotypification of Cucumis sativus L. Taxon 34(2): 288-293.

Renner S.S., Schaefer H. & Kocyan A. (2007) Phylogenetics of Cucumis (Cucurbitaceae): Cucumber (C. sativus) belongs in an Asian/Australian clade far from melon (C. melo). BMC Evolutionary Biology 7 [available online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/7/58/]