Cucurbitales facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cucurbitales |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Division: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: |
Cucurbitales
Dumort., 1829
|
| Families | |
|
|
The Cucurbitales is a group of flowering plants that are part of a larger plant family called rosids. Most of these plants grow in warm, tropical places. You might also find some in subtropical or mild (temperate) areas. This group includes many different kinds of plants, like shrubs, trees, and climbing plants.
What Makes Them Special?
One cool thing about Cucurbitales is that they often have unisexual flowers. This means a single flower has either male parts or female parts, but not both. Their petals, if they have them, are usually thick and pointed.
Most of these plants rely on insects to help them with pollination. This is when pollen moves from one flower to another. However, some plants in this group, like those in the Coriariaceae and Datiscaceae families, use the wind for pollination. The wind carries the pollen from one flower to the next.
Families and Species
The Cucurbitales order has about 2,600 different kinds of plants. These are divided into eight main families.
The two biggest families are:
- Begoniaceae: This is the begonia family, with about 1,400 different species.
- Cucurbitaceae: This is the gourd family, which has about 825 species.
Important Plants We Use
Many plants in the Cucurbitales group are very important to us, especially for food.
The Cucurbitaceae family gives us many popular foods, such as:
- Squash
- Pumpkin (both from the Cucurbita group)
- Watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris)
- Melon
- Cucumber (both from the Cucumis group)
The Begoniaceae family is famous for its beautiful garden plants. There are over 130 types of begonias grown just for their looks!
Related pages
