254 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



These varieties are very different as to the shape of the 

 fruit, which shows a very ancient cultivation. There is 

 the Patagonian pumpkin, with enormous cjdindrical fruit ; 

 the sugared pmnj^kin, called Brazilian; the vegetable 

 marrow, with smaller long-shaped fruit ; the Barherine, 

 with knobby fruit; the Electors hat, with a curiously 

 shaped conical fruit, etc. No value should be attached 

 to the local names in this designation of varieties, for we 

 have often seen that they express as many errors as 

 varieties. The botanical names attributed to the species 

 by Naudin and Cogniaux are numerous, on account of the 

 bad habit which existed not lonoj aero of describing as 

 species purely garden varieties, without taking into 

 account the wonderful effects of cultivation and selection 

 upon the organ for the sake of which the plant is 

 cultivated. 



Most of these varieties exist in the gardens of the 

 warm and temperate regions of both hemispheres. The 

 origin of the species is considered to be doubtful. I 

 hesitated in 1855 ^ between Southern Asia and the 

 Mediterranean basin. Naudin and Cognianx^ admit 

 Southern Asia as probable, and the botanists of the 

 United States on their side have given reasons for their 

 belief in an American origin. The question requires 

 careful investigation. 



I shall first seek for those forms now attributed to 

 the species which have been found growing anywhere in 

 a wild state. 



The variety Cucicrhita ovifera, Linnaeus, was 

 formerly gathered by Lerche, near Astrakhan, but no 

 modern botanist has confirmed this fact, and it is 

 probable it was a cultivated plant. Moreover, Linnaeus 

 does not assert it was wild. I have consulted all the 

 Asiatic and African floras without finding the slightest 

 mention of a wild variety. From Arabia, or even from 

 the coast of Guinea to Japan, the species, or the varieties 

 attributed to it, are always said to be cultivated. In 



* GSogr. Bot. Raisonn^e, p. 902. 



2 Naudin, Ann. Sc. Nat., 3rd series, vol. vi. p. 9 ; Cogniaux, in de 

 CandoUe, Monogr. Phaner., iii. p. 546. 



