Abstract

Baptala is situated in the central sandy belt in the east coast iu the Guntur district. The water table in this coastal area is very high. The soils are mostly sandy and are of, low fertility. Several crops like brinjal, chillies, amaranthus etc., are successfully raised with the aid of high doses of chemical and farmyard manures. A large collection of vegetables was made by the Depart- ment of Agriculture for the newly started College Botanic garden with a view to select the best suited for this locality. Among these, a vegetable collected from Malabar, locally known there as Vellari- mathan was found to be the best in giving the highest yield in a very short time. Its colour, bulk and cheapness created a keen demand for this vegetable, in this locality. With a view to stimulate interest in the public and popularise this vegetable, a brief note on the morphology, culture, seasonal performance, response to ferttilizer treatments, composition etc., is presented here. The term Vellari- mathan implies that it is an intermediate form between 'Vellari' or cucumber (Cucumis sativus, Linn) and Mathan or Pumpkin (Cucurbitu maxima, Duch). Dosa gummidi is a synonym in recent usage here. The external characters show a close resemblance to Cucurbita maxima Duch., and this is considered as a variety of pumpkin. But Krishnamurthy (1948) has reported that this has 36, as the 2n., chromosome number and this does not agree with the count of 40, 2n., chromosome number recorded for Cucurbita maxima by Bhaduri and Bose (1947), Whitaker (1933) and Mekay (1930). He opines that this is likely to be a variant obtained by selection. Its exact nomenclature, therefore, still needs confirmation.

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