Species
+

Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai

Afghan-melon, Dessert-Wassermelone (DE), Melon d'eau (FR), Patia

Climate known 85 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

The watermelon is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae. It is a scrambling and trailing vine-like plant cultivated worldwide.

Text from Wikipedia, “Watermelon”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Citrullus

Citrullus is a genus of seven species of desert vines, among which Citrullus lanatus is an important crop.

Text from Wikipedia, “Citrullus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cucurbitaceae
Described by
(Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai
Native to
Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia +1
Wild records
27 in range· 26 open

At a glance

Warmest month
36°C
Jul, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
5mm/yr
no wet month · peak Jan 1 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–51DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no rainy season to read (5 mm a year); the temperature rule's cooler six months are November to April in the northern hemisphere. Habitat rain 5 mm a year, wettest January at 1 mm, driest February at 0 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 51 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 3.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Anguria citrullus (L.) Mill.; Citrullus aedulis Pangalo; Citrullus anguria (Duchesne) H.Hara; Citrullus aquosus Schur; Citrullus battich Forssk. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no rainy season to read (5 mm a year); the temperature rule's cooler six months are November to April in the northern hemisphere.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

Rain at the habitat is 5 mm a year (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Under 120 mm the rain rule reads no rainy season, and the growing-season rule infers nothing from it. The temperature rule reads the cooler six months as November to April. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to October.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 5 mm a year, wettest January at 1 mm, driest February at 0 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

5 mm a year at the habitat. Wettest month January at 1 mm, driest February at 0 mm; 12 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1 mm to 190 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 51 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 51 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 3.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 3.8 °C, the absolute minimum 0.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 45.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 2.8 °C to 20.8 °C), warmest day 35.9 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 38 to 49% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 20 °C in Jan to 36 °C in Jul; mean night from 8 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 5 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 26 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 0.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 45.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost45.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)0.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter010203040mm rainDLI 29–51RH 38–49 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 26 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 18–2522 / 20–2626 / 23–3131 / 27–3534 / 30–3735 / 32–4036 / 32–3936 / 32–3934 / 31–3831 / 29–3325 / 23–2921 / 19–26
Night °C8 / 3–219 / 5–2013 / 9–2117 / 13–2420 / 17–2622 / 19–2823 / 20–3023 / 20–3122 / 18–2918 / 14–2713 / 8–259 / 4–22
Rain mm1 / 0–80 / 0–51 / 0–150 / 0–380 / 0–260 / 0–30 / 0–241 / 0–400 / 0–80 / 0–321 / 0–281 / 0–22
DLI32 / 24–3837 / 30–4243 / 39–4748 / 42–5050 / 43–5151 / 40–5249 / 37–5147 / 39–4843 / 40–4537 / 35–4232 / 27–3929 / 23–37
RH %49 / 41–5945 / 37–5943 / 33–5839 / 29–5838 / 29–5539 / 30–5344 / 32–5446 / 34–5544 / 35–5547 / 37–5949 / 40–6149 / 42–61

Each figure is the median across the 26 grid cells holding the 27 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1286:4252 (25.675, 32.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 45.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 26 distinct grid cells holding the 27 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1286:4252 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 25.50_32.500, lapse-corrected -172 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 76 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeEgypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Sudan· introduced: Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Portugal, Albania, Greece, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, North European Russia, Azores, Canary Is., Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Socotra, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Lesotho, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Ascension, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Krasnoyarsk, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, East Aegean Is., Iraq, Turkey, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Hainan, Qinghai, China Southeast, Korea, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Laos, Nicobar Is., Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Society Is., Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Brazil West-Central, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest
Kew's description“annual” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker21.9, 25.067 · in the densest population, 14 records (52% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 27 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 26 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 1650 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 27 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Citrullus lanatusCitrullus lanatusCitrullus lanatusCitrullus lanatusCitrullus lanatusCitrullus lanatusCitrullus lanatusCitrullus lanatus

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (8).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Citrullus lanatus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Crop pollination from native bees at risk from agricultural intensification
Claire Kremen, Neal M. Williams, Robbin W. Thorp (2002) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The draft genome of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and resequencing of 20 diverse accessions
Shaogui Guo, Jianguo Zhang, Honghe Sun, Jérôme Salse (2012) · Nature Genetics
Insights into the Evolution of Mitochondrial Genome Size from Complete Sequences of Citrullus lanatus and Cucurbita pepo (Cucurbitaceae)
Andrew J. Alverson, Xueming Wei, Danny W. Rice, David B. Stern (2010) · Molecular Biology and Evolution
Wild bee pollinators provide the majority of crop visitation across land‐use gradients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, USA
Rachael Winfree, Neal M. Williams, Hannah R. Gaines, John S. Ascher (2007) · Journal of Applied Ecology
Resequencing of 414 cultivated and wild watermelon accessions identifies selection for fruit quality traits
Shaogui Guo, Shengjie Zhao, Honghe Sun, Xin Wang (2019) · Nature Genetics
Cucurbit Grafting
Angela R. Davis, Penelope Perkins‐Veazie, Yoshiteru Sakata, S. López-Galarza (2008) · Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences
Fungal Planet description sheets: 785– 867
P.W. Crous, Janet Jennifer Luangsa-ard, Michael J. Wingfield, Angus J. Carnegie (2018) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Lycopene content differs among red‐fleshed watermelon cultivars
Penelope Perkins‐Veazie, Julie K. Collins, S. D. Pair, W. Roberts (2001) · Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Yield, Mineral Composition, Water Relations, and Water Use Efficiency of Grafted Mini-watermelon Plants Under Deficit Irrigation
Youssef Rouphael, Mariateresa Cardarelli, Giuseppe Colla, E. Rea (2008) · HortScience
Some Physical Properties of Karingda [Citrullus lanatus (Thumb) Mansf] Seeds
Sahil Bipin Kumar Suthar, Susanta Kumar Das (1996) · Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 177 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.