Cucumber – Cucumis sativus

Vine plant from the Cucurbitaceae gourd family. Used as a vegetable. Some varieties include:

Pickling
Gherkin
Seedless
English
Burpless

Pickling Cucumbers grow close to the ground and are very vine-like. As for others, they grow nicely up trestles and other supports. They can grow up to 62 cm. 24” long. And 10cm in diameter. The cucumber is classified as a pepo a type of botanical berry. They consist of 95% water. They are great to make pickles and relish during the canning season.

Nutritional Information

Cucumbers in a 100-gram range will provide you with 16 kilocalories of food energy. Contains approximately 16% Vitamin K from this amount.

The cucumber has been cultivated for over 3000 years! And originated from India. Also introduced to Europe by the Greeks and Romans.

WARNING
Members of the Cucurbitaceae families which includes Zucchini also. Can contain toxins called cucurbitacins. They are bred so they can contain low levels of this. That is why it doesn’t affect us when we eat them. However ornamental pumpkins can have high levels of cucurbitacins, and such ornamental plants can cross-fertilize edible Cucurbitaceae and they become toxic to humans. So I wouldn’t recommend using the same seeds from your plants to grow the following year.