Watermelon

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a member of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae) and is native to central Africa. Watermelons were disseminated to Asia in prehistoric times and were widely distributed throughout the Old World by the time the Americas were colonized. The Spanish introduced watermelons into the Caribbean and Florida and later into the American Southwest. Early French explorers and trappers planted watermelon seeds in Canada and subsequently in the Midwest and along the Mississippi River system. The first known references to watermelons in the English colonies are from Massachusetts, dated 1629. John Josselyn, in New-England’s Rarities Discovered (1672), reports that these melons grew well in Massachusetts. Watermelons also grew easily in other colonies; they were a field crop in many places and were commonly consumed throughout colonial America.