Kachri (Cucumis callosus [Rottler] Cogn.)

Kachri [(Cucumis callosus (Rottler) Cogn.)] is commonly known as bitter cucumber in English, kachri in Hindi, and karkati in Sanskrit and belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. Kachri, a feral species of India, has attracted the attention of muskmelon breeders as this species is reported to possess genes for resistance to fruit y and leaf-eating caterpillars, as well as genes for drought and eld resistance to a host of pests and diseases. The natural distribution pattern of kachri in India comprising of the Vindhya hills and Aravalli mountain ranges extends northward to the Indo-Gangetic plains and southward to the Deccan plateau, touching rain shadow areas of the Western Ghats and also found in the Eastern Himalayan region of India. Kachri is characterized by its morphological distinction and F1 and BC1 fertility with Cucumis melo, a subspecic rank within C. melo. In the most well-quoted revision of Cucumis (Kirkbride 1993), Cucumis callosus is treated as a synonym of Cucumis melo. He followed Jeffrey (1980) in arriving at such a conclusion. The veteran botanist Clarke (1879) observed that Naudin stressed the perennial nature of the root as a distinguishing character from C. melo. However, he merged the entity Cucumis pubescens Willd (presently equated with C. melo subsp. agrestis) with Cucumis trigonus Roxb. Kurz (1877) who studied Bengal (India) plants separated C. trigonus, characterized by solitary peduncles, from C. pubescens, with clustered peduncles, and made the latter a variety of C. melo. This concept of Kurz (1877) prevails even to this date in the Indian botanical circles. Verma and Pant (1985) treated C. trigonus as a synonym of C. callosus. Chakravarthy (1959, 1982) and Matthew (1983) retained its separate species status from that of C. melo and C. melo subsp. agrestis. Dubey and Ram (2006) also illustrated the detailed taxonomy, botany, and distribution of kachri. Narrating the history of taxonomic treatments of C. callosus, Nesom (2011) aptly stated that “diversity and ambiguity of interpretation are widespread.” Hence, its treatment is synonymous with that of C. melo (Kirkbride 1993), without even assigning a sub of its specic status. Sound knowledge of the morphological and biological features and correct taxonomic identities is a prerequisite for successful use of germplasm in cucumber and melon breeding (Kristkova et al. 2003; Renner and Schaefer 2008). Wild species are rich reservoirs of useful genes that are not present in cultivated gene pool (Tanksley and McCouch 1997). Underutilized cucurbits, which form a large and diverse commodity group, assume an important role being globally well dispersed and distributed. This chapter presents an overview of kachri (C. callosus (Rottler) Cogn.) with respect to its potential uses, botany, taxonomy, distribution, and production technology for its successful cultivation.