| Aardvark cucumber | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Cucurbitales |
| Family: | Cucurbitaceae |
| Genus: | Cucumis |
| Species: | C. humifructus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Cucumis humifructus | |
Cucumis humifructus, the aardvark cucumber or aardvark pumpkin, is a kind of cucumber (family Cucurbitaceae) from southern Africa, tropical Africa, and Madagascar which fruits underground. It is a prostrate vine up to seven meters (22 feet) in length. It is reliant on the aardvark to eat the fruit in order to spread and re-bury the seeds of the plant. The species was described in 1927, with the name spelled C. humofructus,[1] but this is corrected to C. humifructus following the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants.[2]
- ^ Sydney M. Stent (1927), "An Undescribed Geocarpic Plant from South Africa", Bothalia - African Biodiversity and Conservation, 2: 356–358, doi:10.4102/abc.v2i1.1768
- ^ McNeill, J.; Barrie, F.R.; Buck, W.R.; Demoulin, V.; Greuter, W.; Hawksworth, D.L.; Herendeen, P.S.; Knapp, S.; Marhold, K.; Prado, J.; Prud'homme Van Reine, W.F.; Smith, G.F.; Wiersema, J.H.; Turland, N.J. (2012), International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code) adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne, Australia, July 2011, vol. Regnum Vegetabile 154, A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG, ISBN 978-3-87429-425-6 Article 60.8 and Rec. 60G.1