Appearance
It resembles a common watermelon vine, but bears small, hard fruits with a bitter pulp. It originally bore the scientific name "Colocynthis citrullus".
Distribution
It is native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia, and is distributed among the west coast of northern Africa, eastward through the Sahara, Egypt until India, and reaches also the north coast of the Mediterranean and the Caspian Seas. It grows also in southern European countries as in Spain and on the islands of the Grecian archipelago. On the island of Cyprus, it is cultivated on a small scale; it has been an income source since the 14th century and is still exported today.
Habitat
"C. colocynthis" is a desert viny plant that grows in sandy, arid soils. It is an annual or a perennial plant in Indian arid zones and has a great survival rate under extreme xeric conditions. In fact, it can tolerate annual precipitation of 250 to 1500 mm and an annual temperature of 14.8 to 27.8 °C.It grows from sea level up to 1500 meters above sea level on sandy loam, subdesert soils, and sandy sea coasts with a pH range between 5.0 and 7.8.
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