Cucumber is an annual vine or climbing herb of the Cucumber family. The stems and branches are elongated, with furrows and white rough hairs. The tendrils are fine. The petiole is slightly rough, with coarse and hard hairs; the leaves are broadly ovate-heart-shaped, membranous, and the lobes are triangular and toothed. Hermaphrodite. Male flowers: constant clusters in leaf axils; pedicels are slender and puberulent; corolla yellow-white, corolla lobes oblong-lanceolate. Female flowers: solitary or sparsely clustered; pedicel thick and pilose; ovary rough. The fruit is oblong or cylindrical, yellow-green when ripe, with a rough surface. The seeds are small, narrowly ovoid, white, without margins, with nearly sharp ends at both ends. Flower and fruit period in summer.
It is widely cultivated throughout China, and many areas have greenhouses or plastic greenhouses; it is now widely planted in temperate and tropical regions. Cucumber is one of the main summer vegetables in all parts of China. Stems are used medicinally to reduce inflammation, expectorant and antispasmodic.
