Today Lao Zhao came to give you an interesting topic of science popularization: what is the naming of winter melon watermelon and pumpkin in fruits and vegetables?
People take food as the sky, melon fruits and vegetables must eat every day, such as a variety of melons, such as cucumbers, bitter melons, which are named according to color and taste, and another type of watermelon, pumpkin according to the orientation. How did these vegetables and fruits come from?
First of all, the winter melon, obviously it is ripe in summer, why is it called winter melon? It turns out that when the winter melon is ripe, there will be a layer of white powder on the surface, as if it is the white frost that is formed in winter, so it is called winter melon. It is also for this reason that winter melon is commonly known as white melon, winter melon is heat-tolerant, high yield, easy to plant, is one of the important vegetable varieties in summer and autumn.
Next up is the watermelon. When summer comes, people think of him when they are thirsty. According to legend, when Shennong tasted the hundred herbs, he found watermelons, which were called thin melons because of the succulent water. Later, people rumored that it became a watermelon. However, the more common saying is that this melon comes from the western region, and the watermelon originated in Egypt and was later introduced to China. According to the Ming Dynasty scientist Xu Guangqi's "Complete Book of Agricultural Politics": watermelons are famous in the western region. The contemporary Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: According to the pepper in hui hu to get melon seeds, the name is watermelon. Watermelon, since the history of the five dynasties began in China, now in the north and south. It can be seen that watermelon has a long history of cultivation in China, and watermelon is named because it comes from the western region.
Like pumpkins, pumpkins are native to Central and South America, so they are called pumpkins.