C. lanatus subsp. lanatus var. citroides : The fruit of this cultigen, known as the citron melon or in southern Africa as the makataan, is larger than the tsamma, also sweet and has a more or less concolorous rind and yellowish flesh. It is a traditional crop with several landraces in many parts of the world, e.g. Africa, the Mediterranean and Asia Minor, and introduced in the United States, Polynesia and Russia. The fruits are mostly used as fodder, but also for the production of citron peel or pectin. This plant also occurs as a weed in many countries.

In southern Africa it has been cultivated since pre-colonial times with other crops such as sorghum and maize. The tender young leaves and fruits are cooked as green vegetables, while the fruit flesh may be cooked as porridge with maize meal. It is also a valuable stock feed, especially in times of drought. The makataan is an old favourite for making jam or preserve. The flesh from just below the rind is cut into squares and used to make what is called makataankonfyt . The fruit of the makataan can also be pickled.

C. lanatus subsp. lanatus var . caffer : The tsamma has a crisp, juicy, almost tasteless white flesh. It consists of more than 90% water and contains Vitamin C, ascorbic acid, some trace elements and very few calories. When the pulp is to be drunk, a hole is cut in one end of the fruit and the middle portion eaten. The remaining pulp is then mashed inside with a stick to a watery mass. The seeds are put aside for further use. The hollowed fruit can be used as a container for cooking or storing berries, etc. The pulp and seeds are prepared in a number of different ways for eating. The fruit minus the rind, is cut into slices for drying in the sun, or for mixing with meat, which is then stewed in a hollowed-out fruit. Roasting the entire fruit under a bed of hot coals in the sand adds a lot more flavour to the flesh. The flesh of the bitter karkoer or bitterboela is not used by humans, but the seeds may still be eaten. In the 19 th century Cape Colony the pickled young fruit of the karkoer was consumed; the fresh fruit pulp was used as a drastic purgative, a cathartic in dropsy and other complaints.

The flat brown seeds have a much higher food value than the flesh and have a nice nutty taste. Significant amounts of vitamin C, minerals, fat, starch and riboflavin have been obtained from them. They can be dried, roasted and eaten as such or ground into flour to make bread. The flour is said to contain saponin and is also used as a detergent. The seed contains a high percentage of oil which is similar to pumpkin seed oil and can be used in cooking. The seed oil has an anthelmintic action which is better than that of pumpkin seed oil.

Up to 40 melons have been recorded on one wild plant; their average mass was 1,3 kg. For some Bushmen and animals in the Kalahari, the melons are/were their only source of water for months in the dry season; it is/was not possible to live permanently in the Kalahari without it. In the old days it was almost impossible to travel in the Kalahari desert except during a good tsamma year. The fruit supplied food and water for oxen and even travellers. A person can survive for six weeks on an exclusive diet of tsamma.

Mature fruits of the cultivated watermelon can be stored for not more than four weeks. Mature fruits of the wild C. lanatus subsp. lanatus can remain intact and fleshy for over a year after abscission from the parent plant and they can be stored underground for long periods. H.B. Lecha and U. Posluszny reported on the `Comparative fruit morphology and anatomy in Citrullus lanatus ' at the conference of the South African Association of Botanists in 2001. A layer of wax covers the rind of both forms. However, in the cultivated watermelon, stomata occur on the surface of the rind. In contrast, the stomata in the wild fruit are sunken in depressions on the rind; these sunken stomata facilitate the development of stomatal wax plugs after fruit abscission. It was also found that the bands of sclereids comprising the rind tissue are more extensive, broader and more lignified in the wild watermelon than in the cultivated one.

C. lanatus subsp. mucosospermus : The fruit of this West African taxon is somewhat bitter, but the plant is often cultivated on a large scale mainly as cattle food and for the seed. The fruit pulp is eaten either raw or in soup, depending on the degree of sweetness or bitterness. The seed is sold in markets and used as a masticatory, medicine, food or source of oil for cooking and as an illuminant (it is a good substitute for cottonseed oil).

C. lanatus subsp. vulgaris : Cultivation of the watermelon as a fruit crop, began in ancient Egypt and Asia Minor and spread from there. The cultivars of this popular summer fruit grown today, bear little resemblance to their ancestral African forms. The fruit pulp, fruit juice and seed of the watermelon have all been credited with diuretic properties. A preparation of the seed can lower blood pressure. The juice of the root is said to be able to stop bleeding. In China the seeds are used in soups and snacks, in Eastern Europe excess fruits are made into syrup. The flesh is also an ingredient of sunlotions and other cosmetics.