Muskmelon vs. Cantaloupe

Main Difference

The main difference between Muskmelon and Cantaloupe is that the Muskmelon is a species of plant and Cantaloupe is a variety of plants.

• Muskmelon

  Muskmelon (Cucumis melo) is a species of melon that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. These include smooth-skinned varieties such as honeydew, Crenshaw, and casaba, and different netted cultivars (cantaloupe, Persian melon, and Santa Claus or Christmas melon). The Armenian cucumber is also a variety of muskmelon, but its shape, taste, and culinary uses more closely resemble those of a cucumber. The large number of cultivars in this species approaches that found in wild cabbage, though morphological variation is not as extensive. It is a fruit of a type called pepo.

  Muskmelon is native to Iran, Anatolia and the Caucasus, with a secondary center including northwest India (Hindi: कचरी Kachri) and Afghanistan.

• Cantaloupe

  Cantaloupe (muskmelon, mushmelon, rockmelon, sweet melon) or spanspek (South Africa) is a variety of the Cucumis melo species in the Cucurbitaceae family.

  Cantaloupes range in weight from 0.5 to 5 kilograms (1 to 11 lb). Originally, cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted, orange-fleshed melons of Europe, but may mean any orange-fleshed melon of C. melo. China is the world’s largest producer of cantaloupes, providing half of the global total in 2016.