Cucurbitoideae
Encyclopedia
The Cucurbitoideae is a subfamily of the Cucurbitaceae
Cucurbitaceae
The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...

, or gourd family, of flowering plants. The Cucurbitaceae are divided into two subfamilies, the Zanonioideae, probably a paraphyletic
Paraphyly
A group of taxa is said to be paraphyletic if the group consists of all the descendants of a hypothetical closest common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups of descendants...

 group of remainders, and the well-supported monophyletic
Monophyly
In common cladistic usage, a monophyletic group is a taxon which forms a clade, meaning that it contains all the descendants of the possibly hypothetical closest common ancestor of the members of the group. The term is synonymous with the uncommon term holophyly...

 Cucurbitoideae.

The Cucurbitoideae subfamily consists of seven tribes. Members of the Cucurbiteae
Cucurbiteae
The Cucurbiteae is a tribe of the Cucurbitaceae subfamily, which is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, or gourd family, of flowering plants.The tribe consists of 13 genera...

tribe produce economically valuable fruits, called gourds, which include crops like cucumbers, squashes (including pumpkins), luffas
Luffa
The luffa, loofah, or lufah are tropical and subtropical vines comprising the genus Luffa, the only genus of the subtribe Luffinae of the plant family Cucurbitaceae...

, and melons (including watermelons).
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