SEED-VESSELS WE EAT 247 



fruit? These are the characteristics of the stem 

 of a squash. Such stems have the Hubbard and 

 turban varieties. The large cheese pumpkin, 

 Japanese pumpkins, and the cushaws show this 

 flare. But the sweet, summer pumpkin does not. 

 Its hard, ridged stem is the tell-tale pumpkin 

 trademark. 



The- only disconcerting feature of this con- 

 venient classification is the fact that the crook- 

 neck and patty-pan squashes line up among 

 the pumpkins, and the big Chili pumpkins are 

 squashes! 



So when we make a pumpkin pie it may turn 

 out to be a squash pie, judged by strictly botanical 

 standards. By any name it is good enough for 

 hungry Americans in the middle of a hard day's 

 work, corn-husking in the fall of the year. On 

 the Thanksgiving dinner table no distinction is 

 made between pumpkin and squash pie. 



But the botanist has the best of the argument 

 at last, because the group he calls pumpkins may 

 be planted alongside of squashes and they will 

 not intercross, as do the varieties within the two 

 groups. 



"Gourd" is the European name for all the pepo 

 fruits. "Pumpkin" is the name given to the huge 

 varieties. The English "marrows" we know as 



