Cucumis sativus (cucumber, "Kyuri")

Japanese name: キュウリ （胡瓜）
Scientific name: Cucumis sativus

[Overview]
A climbing annual.
The stem climbs by twining around other objects with tendrils.
The stems and leaves are rough.
The leaves are alternate, shallowly lobed, and toothed.
There are male and female flowers; the male flowers grow in clusters of several, while the female flowers are usually solitary.
The flowers are bell-shaped, 2.5–4 cm across, 5-lobed, and yellow.
The fruit is ovate, spindle-shaped, oblong or similar, and is often 20–50 cm long, though some cultivars reach 1 m.
The fruit surface bears small wart-like protrusions, either black or colorless; the former are called "black warts" and the latter "white warts" to distinguish them.
The flesh is thick and white, with many seeds.
The fruit turns yellow when ripe, but since the unripe fruit is harvested and eaten, ripe fruit is rarely seen.

[History]
Cultivation in India, regarded as its place of origin, goes back more than 3,000 years, and it is thought to have been introduced to Japan in the 10th century or earlier by envoys to Tang China.
It became commonly enjoyed as a vegetable in the latter half of the Edo period.
There is a custom among parishioners of shrines that enshrine Susanoo-no-Mikoto of not eating cucumbers because the cut surface resembles the shrine crest, and in some areas people still abstain during festival periods.

[Cultivation]
There are many pests and diseases, so countermeasures are necessary.

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