Who introduced this African berry to the Americas?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
January 27, 2004
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The berry ripens only during hot weather, a trait carried from its original habitat in tropical Africa. It is served as a dessert or in fruit salads; the sweet juicy flesh is red from its high lycopene content. The USDA estimates that in 2001, 4 billion pounds of the fruit were grown in the U.S. with most of that crop consumed domestically at 14.7 pounds per person. That crop's value at the time of shipping was $276.9 million dollars. The berry is the watermelon
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(Citrullus lanatus (Thunberg) Matsumura & Nakai).
The watermelon is thought native to somewhere near the Kalahari. The plant provides food and water for wildlife, native peoples, and travelers through the desert. Watermelon was domesticated around 4,000 years ago; it was introduced to the ancient Egyptians and grown in the fertile soils of the Nile Valley.
Although, the Greeks and Romans traveling to Egypt had to have known of watermelons, the fruit was not introduced to Europe until after the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by Tarik ibn Ziyad in 711. Berbers (Moors) settling Spain and Portugal brought the fruit across the Strait from North Africa. Watermelons did not spread through Europe quickly; it took until the 16th and 17th centuries before the fruit was commonly cultivated.
The Spanish introduced the fruit to the Americas in the 1500s and watermelon cultivation spread rapidly among American natives. Watermelon seed trade is said to have moved through the Americas faster than European explorers. Watermelons were grown in Massachusetts and Florida in the early 1600s and French explorers arriving in the Mississippi Valley in the late 1600s found the natives already enjoying the fruit.
The Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida has a photograph of watermelon taken by Walter Hodge. To view the photograph, click on the link:
http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu/main.asp?plantID=331
Click on the 'Images' tab and on the thumbnail to enlarge the image.
(Compiled from: "Watermelon" and "Citrullus", Hortus Third, Staff H.L. Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University, 1976; "Citrullus lanatus", Hamish Robertson, Biodiversity Explorer, Iziko Museums of Cape Town, 2003; and "About Watermelons (Citrullus lanatus)", Eric and Lynn Walker.)
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
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