ABSTRACT
The melon species Cucumis melo L. includes a group of high-value crops such as muskmelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, casaba, and winter melon that are cultivated throughout the world (1). The mature melon fruits are appreciated as summer dessert fruit, and the immature fruits may be consumed as vegetables. The C. melo species has been subdivided into cultivar groups or botanical varieties by several authors, including Whitaker and Davis (2) and Robinson and Decker-Walters (3). Robinson and DeckerWalters (3) use the following groupings: cantalupensis (cantaloupe and muskmelon), inodorus (winter melon), flexuosus (snake melon), conomon (pickling melon), dudaim (pomegranate melon), and momordica (phoot, snap melon). The dessert melons, which are the most commercially important types, generally belong to the cantalupensis and inodorus groups. Members of the cantalupensis group include cantaloupe and Charentais-type melons; honeydew is the most popular member of the inodorus group, which also includes casaba, canary, and crenshaw melons. In other classifications (e.g., see Ref. 2), the muskmelon types are separated from the cantaloupes. The muskmelons, which are classified as var. reticulatus, are the most commercially important type in North America, whereas the cantaloupes (var. cantaloupensis) are grown mostly in Europe.
