utilized for their edible seeds long before the flesh was 
eaten (7, 36), because the flesh of all the known wild 
species is scant, bitter and unpalatable. Whitaker and 
Bohn (216) have summarized the available information 
on all the cultivated species. 
C. ficifolia Bouché is a perennial species known from 
Mexico to Chile at higher altitudes. It is believed to 
have occurred in Peru at a very early time, but its origin 
is not known. Like Canavalia, this may be avery ancient 
cultigen which has since been largely replaced by the 
other and superior species. 
C. maxima is a South American species which did not 
reach Mexico in pre-Columbian times. 
C. mixta Pang. is believed by Whitaker and Bohn 
to be the same as the Mexican form of C. moschata, though 
the Russian workers (31, 146) believed them to be dis- 
tinct and list two varieties of C. mivta, one from Mexico 
and the other from Guatemala. 
C. moschata Duch. occurs from the southwestern 
United States to Colombia, though the South American 
forms seem to constitute a group distinct from those of 
Mexico and Central America. The origin of this species 
has not yet been determined, but it may be Central 
American. 
C. Pepo L. is believed to have arisen from C. texana 
Gray of the southern United States, or a similar wild 
plant. It has been suggested (86) that this species was 
independently domesticated in the southwestern and in 
the southeastern United States; while this may be so, 
the endemic forms known to occur in Mexico and Cen- 
tral America (31, 86) should be considered in any study 
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