Origin and alternate names

Honeydew is in fact the American name for the White Antibes cultivar which has been grown for many years in southern France and Algeria.In China, honeydews are known as the Bailan melon; they are a locally famous product near Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province in Chinas northwest.According to Chinese sources, the melons were introduced to China by a Mr. Wallace, who donated melon seeds to the locals while visiting in the 1940s (probably 1944). Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, had founded a major seed company (Pioneer HiBred) and otherwise had a general background and interest in agricultural pursuits.