Honeydew

Honeydew (melon)

The honeydew melon is one of the two main cultivar types in Cucumis melo Inodorus Group. It is characterized by the smooth, often green or yellowish rind and lack of musky odor. The other main type in the Inodorus Group is the wrinkle-rind casaba melon.

Honeydew (excretion)

Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid that is excreted by aphids, some scale insects, many other true bugs, and some other insects as they feed on plant sap. When their mouthpart penetrates the phloem, the sugary, high-pressure liquid is forced out of the anus of the insects, allowing them to rapidly process the large volume of sap required to extract essential nutrients present at low concentrations. Honeydew is particularly common as a excretion in hemipteran insects and is often the basis for trophobiosis. Some caterpillars of Lycaenidae butterflies and some moths also produce honeydew. In addition to various sugars, honeydew contains small amounts of amino acids, other organic compounds, and inorganic salts, with its precise makeup affected by factors such as insect species, host plant species, and whether a symbiotic organism is present.

Shades of green

Varieties of the color green may differ in hue, chroma or lightness, or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a green or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. A large selection of these various colors is shown below.

honeydew

Noun

1. A sweet, sticky substance deposited on leaves and other plant parts by insects (especially aphids and scale insects) feeding on plant sap, or by fungi.
2. A sweet liquid substance resembling the substance mentioned in sense 1, such as honey, nectar, or manna in the Bible.

Adjective

1. Of a light green colour, like the flesh of some honeydew melons.