The cucumber is acreeping vine that roots in the ground and grows uptrellises or other supporting frames, wrapping around supports with thin, spiralingtendrils.[7] The plant may also root in asoilless medium, whereby it will sprawl along the ground in lieu of a supporting structure. The vine has large leaves that form acanopy over the fruits.[8]
The fruit of typical cultivars of cucumber is roughlycylindrical, but elongated with tapered ends, and may be as large as 62 centimeters (24 in) long and 10 centimeters (4 in) in diameter.[9]
Cucumber fruits consist of 95% water (see nutrition table). Inbotanical terms, the cucumber is classified as apepo, a type ofbotanical berry with seeds and an outer rind.[10] In aculinary context, it is considered a vegetable.[10]
Most cucumber cultivars are seeded and require pollination. For this purpose, thousands ofhoneybeehives are annually carried to cucumber fields just before bloom. Cucumbers may also be pollinated viabumblebees and several other bee species. Most cucumbers that require pollination areself-incompatible, thus requiring thepollen of another plant in order to formseeds and fruit.[11] Some self-compatible cultivars exist that are related to the 'Lemon cucumber' cultivar.[11]
Traditional cultivars produce male blossoms first, then female, in about equivalent numbers. Newergynoecious hybrid cultivars produce almost all female blossoms. They may have apollenizer cultivar interplanted, and the number of beehives per unit area is increased, but temperature changes induce male flowers even on these plants, which may be sufficient for pollination to occur.[11]
In 2009, an international team of researchers announced they had sequenced the cucumbergenome.[12]
Cucumbers grown to eat fresh are calledslicing cucumbers. The main varieties of slicers mature onvines with large leaves that provide shading.[8][22]
Slicers grown commercially for the North American market are generally longer, smoother, more uniform in color, and have much tougher skin. In contrast, those in other countries, often calledEuropean cucumbers, are smaller and have thinner, more delicate skin, often with fewer seeds, thus are often sold in plastic skin for protection. This variety may also be called atelegraph cucumber, particularly inAustralasia.[23]
Pickling withbrine, sugar,vinegar, and spices creates various flavored products from cucumbers and other foods.[24] Although any cucumber can be pickled, commercial pickles are made from cucumbers specially bred for uniformity of length-to-diameter ratio and lack of voids in the flesh. Those cucumbers intended for pickling, calledpicklers, grow to about 7 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) long and 2.5 cm (1 in) wide. Compared to slicers, picklers tend to be shorter, thicker, less-regularly shaped, and have bumpy skin with tiny white or black-dotted spines. Color can vary from creamy yellow to pale or dark green.[citation needed]
Gherkin
Gherkins, also calledcornichons,[25] orbaby pickles, are small cucumbers, typically those 2.5 to 12.5 centimetres (1 to 5 in) in length, often with bumpy skin, which are typically used for pickling.[26][27][28] The wordgherkin comes from the early modernDutchgurken oraugurken ('small pickled cucumber').[29] The term is also used in the name forCucumis anguria, theWest Indian gherkin, a closely related species.[30]
Burpless
Burpless cucumbers are sweeter and have a thinner skin than other varieties of cucumber. They are reputed to be easy to digest and to have a pleasant taste. They can grow as long as 60 centimeters (2 ft), are nearly seedless, and have a delicate skin. Most commonly grown in greenhouses, theseparthenocarpic cucumbers are often found ingrocery markets,shrink-wrapped in plastic. They are marketed as either burpless or seedless, as the seeds and skin of other varieties of cucumbers are said to give some people gas.[31]
Shoots
Cucumbershoots are regularly consumed as a vegetable, especially in rural areas. In Thailand they are often served with a crab meat sauce. They can also be stir fried or used in soups.[32]
In 2023, world production of cucumbers and gherkins was 98 milliontonnes, led by China with 82% of the total.[33]
Cultivation history
Cultivated for at least 3,000 years, the cultivated cucumbers"Cucumis sativus" were domesticated inIndia from wild "C. sativus var. hardwickii".[3][4][6] where a great many varieties have been observed, along with its closest living relative,Cucumis hystrix.[34] The three main cultivar groups of cucumber are Eurasian cucumbers (slicing cucumbers eaten raw and immature), East Asian cucumbers (pickling cucumbers), and Xishuangbanna cucumbers. Based on demographic modelling, the East Asian C. sativus cultivars diverged from the Indian cultivars about 2,500 years ago.[35] It was probably introduced to Europe by theGreeks orRomans. Records of cucumber cultivation appear inFrance in the 9th century,England in the 14th century, and in North America by the mid-16th century.[1][36][37][38]
Roman Empire
According toPliny the Elder, the EmperorTiberius had the cucumber on his table daily during summer and winter. In order to have it available for his table every day of the year, the Romans reportedly used artificial growing methods (similar to thegreenhouse system) usingmirrorstone, Pliny'slapis specularis, believed to have been sheetmica:[39][40]
Indeed, he was never without it; for he had raised beds made in frames upon wheels, by means of which the cucumbers were moved and exposed to the full heat of the sun; while, in winter, they were withdrawn, and placed under the protection of frames glazed with mirrorstone.
— Pliny the Elder,Natural History XIX.xxiii, "Vegetables of a Cartilaginous Nature—Cucumbers. Pepones"
Reportedly, they were also cultivated inspecularia, cucumber houses glazed with oiled cloth.[39] Pliny describes the Italian fruit as very small, probably like agherkin. He also describes the preparation of a medication known aselaterium. However, some scholars[who?] believe that he was instead referring toEcballium elaterium, known in pre-Linnean times asCucumis silvestris orCucumis asininus ('wild cucumber' or 'donkey cucumber'), a species different from the common cucumber.[41] Pliny also writes about several other varieties of cucumber, including the cultivated cucumber,[42] and remedies from the different types (9 from the cultivated; 5 from the "anguine;" and 26 from the "wild").
Middle Ages
Charlemagne had cucumbers grown in his gardens in the 8th/9th century. They were reportedly introduced into England in the early 14th century, lost, then reintroduced approximately 250 years later. TheSpaniards (through theItalianChristopher Columbus) brought cucumbers toHaiti in 1494. In 1535,Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, found "very great cucumbers" grown on the site of what is nowMontreal.[43]
Early-modern age
Trans,cis-2,6-Nonadienal, orcucumber aldehyde, is a component of the distinctive aroma of cucumbers.
Throughout the 16th century, European trappers, traders,bison hunters, and explorers bartered for the products of American Indianagriculture. The tribes of theGreat Plains and theRocky Mountains learned from the Spanish how to grow European crops. The farmers on the Great Plains included theMandan andAbenaki. They obtained cucumbers andwatermelons from the Spanish, and added them to the crops they were already growing, including several varieties ofcorn andbeans,pumpkins,squash, andgourd plants.[44] TheIroquois were also growing them when the first Europeans visited them.[45]
In 1630, the ReverendFrancis Higginson produced a book calledNew-Englands Plantation in which, describing a garden on Conant's Island inBoston Harbor known asThe Governor's Garden, he states:[46]
The countrie aboundeth naturally with store of roots of great varietie [sic] and good to eat. Our turnips, parsnips, and carrots are here both bigger and sweeter than is ordinary to be found in England. Here are store of pompions, cowcumbers, and other things of that nature which I know not...
InNew England Prospect (1633, England), William Wood published observations he made in 1629 in America:[47]
The ground affords very good kitchin gardens, for Turneps, Parsnips, Carrots, Radishes, and Pompions, Muskmillons, Isquoter-squashes, coucumbars, Onyons, and whatever grows well in England grows as well there, many things being better and larger. [sic]
Age of Enlightenment and later
Lobster, Crab, and a Cucumber byWilliam Henry Hunt (watercolour, 1826 or 1827)
In the later 17th century, a prejudice developed against uncooked vegetables and fruits. A number of articles in contemporary health publications stated that uncooked plants brought on summer diseases and should be forbidden to children. The cucumber kept this reputation for an inordinate period of time, "fit only for consumption by cows," which some believe is why it gained the name,cowcumber.[citation needed]
[T]his day Sir W. Batten tells me that Mr. Newburne is dead of eating cowcumbers, of which the other day I heard of another, I think.
John Evelyn in 1699 wrote that the cucumber, 'however dress'd, was thought fit to be thrown away, being accounted little better than poyson (poison)'.[49][50]
According to 18th-century British writerSamuel Johnson, it was commonly said among English physicians that a cucumber "should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing."[51]
A copperetching made by Maddalena Bouchard between 1772 and 1793 shows this plant to have smaller, almost bean-shaped fruits, and small yellow flowers. The small form of the cucumber is figured inHerbals of the 16th century, however stating that "[i]f hung in a tube while in blossom, the Cucumber will grow to a most surprising length."[citation needed]
Gallery
Salad cucumber
An Indian yellow cucumber
A Scandinavian cucumber in slices
Grated cucumber
Komkommer (Cucumis sativus 'Gele Tros')
A varietal grown by theHmong people with textured skin and large seeds
^ab"Cucumis sativus". North Carolina State University, Extension Gardener. 2025. Retrieved12 October 2025.
^Zhang T, Li X, Yang Y, et al. (2019). "Genetic analysis and QTL mapping of fruit length and diameter in a cucumber (Cucumber sativus L.) recombinant inbred line (RIL) population".Scientia Horticulturae.250:214–222.Bibcode:2019ScHor.250..214Z.doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2019.01.062.S2CID92837522.
^Schieberle P, Ofner S, Grosch W (1990). "Evaluation of Potent Odorants in Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) and Muskmelons (Cucumis melo) by Aroma Extract Dilution Analysis".Journal of Food Science.55:193–195.doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1990.tb06050.x.
^"Gherkins". Venlo, Netherlands: Zon. 2017. Archived fromthe original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved13 November 2017.
^"Cucumbers"(PDF). University of California-Davis: Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, US Department of Agriculture. May 2016. Retrieved13 November 2017.
^"Cucumbers and gherkins". Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved13 November 2017.
^abJames, Peter J., Thorpe, Nick, Thorpe, I. J. (1995). "Ch. 12, Sport and Leusure: Roman Gardening Technology".Ancient Inventions. Ballantine Books. p. 563.ISBN978-0-345-40102-1.
^Buchanan D (2012).Taste, Memory: Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and why They Matter. VT, USA: Chelsea Green Publishing. p. 109.ISBN9781603584401.
^Kuhnlein HV, Turner NJ (1996).Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples: Nutrition, Botany and Use. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Gordon and Breach. p. 159.ISBN9782881244650.
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