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Description of chayote plant
Chayote. Characteristics
Chayote. Characteristics
A chayote plant is characterized by its slender stems, creeping or climbing up to 10 m in length. Chayote plant leaves show from 3 to 5 lobes and can reach 20 cm. Its fruits grow solitary or in pairs and appear in summer. Large pear shaped, with pale green, glossy skin with large ribs and some thorns.
There are yellow, or dark green varieties . These latter are characterized by the presence of numerous spines. Fruit flesh can be white or pale green. Wild species have a bitter taste. The fruit has inside a single seed, dicot, flat and smooth.
A chayote plant is grown primarily for fruit production. This plant is usually very common in home gardens as a vegetable. In America you can see it entangled in fences. Another way to grow it in America is in the middle of banana plantations.
Chayote (Flowers and fruits)
The chayote plant is a monoecious vine, that is to say on the same plant it has male and female flowers. the male flowers are pale yellow in racemose inflorescences, while female flowers are greenish.
The flowers usually develop about five months after planting and are pollinated by insects, mainly bees.
Fruit maturation takes place between a month or month and a half after pollination.
Once mature, the germination takes place within the same fruit, hence it is known as endocarpic germination.
If the fruit is not separated from the plant, the embryo develops inside the fruit, which is known as viviparity.
Chayote uses
Chayote usesThey are essentially cultivated because of their fruits. The use of this plant to provide shade in summer pergolas is quite common in tropical America.
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