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Taxon:  Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad.



Summary
Genus:
Citrullus
Family:
Cucurbitaceae
Tribe:
Benincaseae
Nomen number:
10674
Place of publication:
Linnaea 12:414. 1838
Verified:
05/10/1995 ARS Systematic Botanists.
Accessions:
0 (0  active, 0  available) in National Plant Germplasm System. 
Other conspecific taxa
Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations
Basionym
Cucumis colocynthis L.

Heterotypic Synonym(s)
Colocynthis vulgaris Schrad.
No images


Reference(s)
  1. Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin). 2009
  2. Botanical Society of the British Isles. BSBI taxon database (on-line resource).
  3. CIBA-GEIGY, Basel, Switzerland. Documenta CIBA-GEIGY (Grass weeds 1. 1980, 2. 1981; Monocot weeds 3. 1982; Dicot weeds 1. 1988)
  4. Dane, F. & P. Lang. 2004. Sequence variation at cpDNA regions of watermelon and related wild species: implications for the evolution of Citrullus haplotypes. Amer. J. Bot. 91:1922-1929.
  5. Dane, F. et al. 2007. Phylogeography of the bitter apple, Citrullus colocynthis. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 54:327-336.
  6. Davis, P. H., ed. Flora of Turkey and the east Aegean islands. 1965-1988
  7. Decker-Walters, D. S. 1999. Cucurbit, Sanskrit, and the Indo-Aryas. Econ. Bot. 53:102.
  8. Duke, J. A. et al. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs. 2002
  9. Duke, J. A. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs. 1985
  10. Erhardt, W. et al. Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen, 17. Auflage. 2002
  11. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
  12. Greuter, W. et al., eds. Med-Checklist. 1984-
  13. Hansen, A. & P. Sunding. Flora of Macaronesia: checklist of vascular plants, ed. 4. Sommerfeltia vol. 17. 1993
  14. Hedberg, I. & S. Edwards. Flora of Ethiopia. 1989- (and Eritrea. 2000)
  15. Huxley, A., ed. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening. 1992
  16. Janick, J. & J. Simon, eds. Advances in new crops. 1990
  17. Kirkbride, J. H., Jr. Biosystematic monograph of the genus Cucumis (Cucurbitaceae). 1993
  18. Levi, A. et al. 2001. Genetic diversity among watermelon (Citrullus lanatus and Citrullus colocynthis) accessions. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 48:559-566.
  19. Levi, A. et al. 2002. A genetic linkage map for watermelon derived from a testcross population: (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides × C. lanatus var. lanatus. Theor. Appl. Genet. 105:555-563.
  20. Levi, A. et al. 2002. A genetic linkage map for watermelon derived from a testcross population: (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides × C. lanatus var. lanatus. Theor. Appl. Genet. 105:555-563.
  21. Levi, A. et al. 2005. Analysis based on RAPD and ISSR markers reveals closer similarities among Citrullus and Cucumis species than with Praecitrullus fistulosus (Stocks) Pangalo. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 52:465-472.
  22. McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. 2000
  23. McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. 2000
  24. Migahid, A. M. Flora of Saudi Arabia, ed. 3. 1988-1990
  25. Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali, eds. Flora of [West] Pakistan. 1970-
  26. Navot, N. & D. Zamir. 1987. Isozyme and seed protein phylogeny of the genus Citrullus (Cucurbitaceae). Pl. Syst. Evol. 156:61-67.
  27. Navot, N. et al. 1990. Linkage relationships of genes affecting bitterness and flesh color in watermelon. J. Heredity 81:162-165.
  28. Navot, N. et al. 1990. Linkage relationships of genes affecting bitterness and flesh color in watermelon. J. Heredity 81:162-165.
  29. Nesom, G. L. 2011. New state records for Citrullus, Cucumis, and Cucurbita (Cucurbitaceae) outside of cultivation in the USA. Phytoneuron 2011-1:1-7.
  30. Norton, J. et al. Illustrated checklist of the flora of Qatar. 2009
  31. Parsons, W. T. & E. G. Cuthbertson. Noxious weeds of Australia. 1992
  32. Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
  33. Rechinger, K. H., ed. Flora iranica. 1963-
  34. Reddy, U. K. et al. 2013. Cytomolecular characterization of rDNA distribution in various Citrullus species using fluorescent in situ hybridization. Genet. Resources Crop Evol. DOI: 10.1007/s10722-013-9976-1.
  35. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994
  36. Renner, S. S. & A. K. Pandey. 2013. The Cucurbitaceae of India: accepted names, synonyms, geographic distribution, and information on images and DNA sequences. PhytoKeys 20:62.
  37. Sain, R. S. et al. 2002. Cytogenetic analysis of interspecific hybrids in genus Citrullus (Cucurbitaceae). Euphytica 128:205-210.
  38. Shimotsuma, M. 1960. Cytogenetical studies in the genus Citrullus, IV. Intra- and interspecific hybrids between C. colocynthis Schrad. and C. vulgaris Schrad. Jap. J. Genet. 35:303-312.
  39. Si, Y. et al. 2010. Cloning and expression analysis of the Ccrboh gene encoding respiratory burst oxidase in Citrullus colocynthis and grafting onto Citrullus lanatus (watermelon). J. Exp. Bot. 61:1635-1642.
  40. The Hebew University of Jerusalem. Flora of Israel Online (on-line resource).
  41. Thulin, M., ed. Flora of Somalia. 1993-
  42. Townsend, C. C. & E. Guest. Flora of Iraq. 1966-
  43. Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. Flora of tropical East Africa. 1952-
  44. Wickens, G. E. et al., eds. New crops for food and industry. 1989 147.
  45. Wiersema, J. H. & B. León. World economic plants: a standard reference (on-line edition) [medicinal plants only].
  46. Wood, J. R. I. A handbook of the flora of Yemen. 1997
  47. Zohary, M. & N. Feinbrun-Dothan. Flora palaestina. 1966-
Common names
English
bitter-apple –
bitter-cucumber –
colocynth –
vine-of-Sodom –
wild gourd –
Arabic
handhal –
French
coloquinte –
German
Bitter-Melone –
Koloquinte –
India
tumba –
Portuguese
colocíntida –
Spanish
alhandal –
coloquíntida –
Swedish
kolokvint –
Distribution
order_codeStatusContinentSubcontinentCountryStateNote
1NativeAfricaEast Tropical AfricaKenya  
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaChad  
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaEthiopia  
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaSomalia  
1NativeAfricaNortheast Tropical AfricaYemenSocotra 
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaAlgeria  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaEgypt  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaLibya  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaMorocco  
1NativeAfricaNorthern AfricaTunisia  
1NativeAfricaWest Tropical AfricaMali  
1NativeAsia-TemperateArabian PeninsulaKuwait  
1NativeAsia-TemperateArabian PeninsulaSaudi Arabia  
1NativeAsia-TemperateArabian PeninsulaYemen  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaAfghanistan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaCyprus  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaEgyptSinai 
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIran  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIraq  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaIsrael  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaJordan  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaLebanon  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaSyria  
1NativeAsia-TemperateWestern AsiaTurkey  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaAndhra Pradesh 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaAssam 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaBihar 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaDelhi 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaGoa 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaGujarat 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaKarnataka 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaMaharashtra 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaPunjab 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaRajasthan 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaTamil Nadu 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentIndiaUttar Pradesh 
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentPakistan  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndian SubcontinentSri Lanka  
1NativeAsia-TropicalIndo-ChinaMyanmar  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeGreece  
1NativeEuropeSoutheastern EuropeItalySicily 
1NativeEuropeSouthwestern EuropeSpain  
2Cultivated     
4NaturalizedAustralasiaAustraliaAustralia  
Native
Africa
  • EAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Kenya
  • NORTHEAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad, Yemen [Socotra]
  • NORTHERN AFRICA: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
  • WEST TROPICAL AFRICA: Mali
Asia-Temperate
  • ARABIAN PENINSULA: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
  • WESTERN ASIA: Afghanistan, Cyprus, Egypt [Sinai], Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey
Asia-Tropical
  • INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: India [Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Goa], Sri Lanka, Pakistan
  • INDO-CHINA: Myanmar
Europe
  • SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: Greece, Italy [Sicily]
  • SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE: Spain
Cultivated ()
Naturalized
Australasia
  • AUSTRALIA: Australia
Economic Uses
UsageTypeNoteReference
Medicinesfolklore McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. 2000
Vertebrate poisonsmammals Burkill, H. M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa. 1985-2004 1:570.
Weed  CIBA-GEIGY, Basel, Switzerland. Documenta CIBA-GEIGY (Grass weeds 1. 1980, 2. 1981; Monocot weeds 3. 1982; Dicot weeds 1. 1988)
Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2026. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://ausgenebank.agriculture.vic.gov.au/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=10674. Accessed 17 April 2026.

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