Cantaloupe bush

Description

Cantaloupe (muskmelon, mushmelon, rockmelon, sweet melon) or spanspek (South Africa) is a variety of the Cucumis melo species in the Cucurbitaceae family. Cantaloupes range in weight from 0.5 to 5 kilograms (1 to 11 lb). Originally, cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted, orange-fleshed melons of Europe, but may mean any orange-fleshed melon of C. melo. China is the world's largest producer of cantaloupes, providing half of the global total in 2016. The name cantaloupe is derived via French cantaloup from Italian Cantalupo, which was formerly a papal county seat near Rome, after the fruit's introduction there from Armenia. It was first mentioned in English literature in 1739. The cantaloupe most likely originated in a region from South Asia to Africa. It was later introduced to Europe and, around 1890, became a commercial crop in the United States.