Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 1:40 (article 37) 1978
R. W. Robinson and E. Kowalewski
New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, NY 14456
Diallel reciprocal cross pollinations were made among cucumber, muskmelon, and l9 wild species of Cucumis. The only species that crossed with the cucumber was C. Hardwickii; and C. trigonus and C. callosus were the only species to cross with the muskmelon. In each of these crosses there was no sterility barrier; the cross was easily made and the F1 was fully fertile. In morphology as well as in compatibility, C. hardwickii appeared to be a subspecies of C. sativus; and C. trigonus and C. callosus appeared not to be valid species but rather subspecies of C. melo.
Fruit set was obtained on cucumber, but not on muskmelon, when pollinated with other Cucumis species. No seed was produced however, and embryo culture attempts were unsuccessful. Viable seed was produced by C. metuliferus, but the progeny of interspecific matings were identical to the maternal parent, probably due to apomixis.
Gene interchange is possible among Cucumis anguria, C. longipes, C. hookeri, C. leptodermis, and C. zeyheri, since crosses were made among all these species and the hybrids were fertile. Crosses were also made between C. africanus and C. membranifolius, C. prophetarum and C. pustulatus, and between C. dipsaceus and C. prophetarum.