The citron melon or tsamma, is thought to be the original/ancestral variety of watermelon

Watermelon

Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...

. It is in the family cucurbit

Cucurbitaceae

The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...

 which consists of various squashes, melon

Melon

thumb|200px|Various types of melonsThis list of melons includes members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit e.g. gourds or cucurbits. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit...

s, and gourd

Gourd

A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...

s. Its fruit has a hard white flesh, rendering it less likely to be eaten raw; more often it is "pickled" or used to make preserves. It is especially useful for the latter, because it has a high pectin

Pectin

Pectin is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. It was first isolated and described in 1825 by Henri Braconnot...

 content.

History

The citron melon is native

Indigenous (ecology)

In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...

 to Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, probably the Kalahari desert

Kalahari Desert

The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in Southern Africa extending , covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains. The Kalahari supports more animals and plants than a true desert...

, where it still grows abundantly. The time and place of its first domestication is unknown, but it appears to have been grown in ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 at least four thousand years ago.

It is grown as food in Africa, especially dry or desert regions, including South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. In some areas, it is even used as a source of water during dry seasons.

Today, it's not only found in Africa, but also domesticated in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 spanning much of the Southern US. There it is generally somewhat divergent from its "pure" form, in part from accidental crossbreeding with modern, domesticated watermelon. It is known in the southern plains states and Australia as pie melon, as well as citron melon. These impure, domesticated versions are sometimes oblong in shape, have unusually colored seeds or meat, or are otherwise different than the original form.

It has become a feral species, growing wild, in western Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

Characteristics

The actual fruit of this plant resembles the more modern, domesticated watermelons, except it's smaller and more spheroid. The meat of the melon is more whitish and dense, though, and much stronger in flavor, akin more to the area on a domesticated watermelon where the red meat is just turning into the white rind. As noted above, while some people do eat it raw, it's more often cooked or prepared in some other way.

Citron melon leaves are palmate in the early stages of growth, and deeply lobed in later development

Morphogenesis

Morphogenesis , is the biological process that causes an organism to develop its shape...

. They have a rough texture and a visible white venation.

Solitary

Solitary

Solitary is the state of being alone. The term may refer to:* shortened form of solitary confinement in jail* Solitary but social, a type of social organization in biology where individuals forage alone but share sleeping space...

 flowers with large, yellow petals of around 2-10 millimeters are randomly dispersed forming many seeded fruit with a variegated light green and dark green pattern.http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FW013

The citron melon should not be confused with actual citron

Citron

Not to be confused with Cintron.The citron is a fragrant citrus fruit, botanically classified as Citrus medica by both the Swingle and Tanaka systems...

, a citrus fruit originally used, since ancient Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, to repel insects, but which in modern times is also sold candied

Succade

Succade is the candied peel of any of the citrus species, especially from the citron or Citrus medica which is distinct with its extra thick peel; in addition, the taste of the inner rind of the citron is less bitter than those of the other citrus...

, or cooked into fruitcake.