144 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



the fruit is prepared for the taV)le in an unripe state. Flowers and fruits from 

 July to Oct. 



3. C. maxima, DC. (Winter Scjuash. Gourd Squash.) Stem 8 to 20 feet 

 long, trailing. Leaves large, with rounded lobes. Corolla yellow, segments 

 curved, or rolled outwards ; tiower-stalks smooth. Fruit ovoid or pear-shaped, 

 neck sometimes crooked or curved. Variable in size, frequently reaching the 

 length of 3 feet, and specimens have been known to weigh 70 pounds. The 

 neck is usually solid, the end farthest from the stem enlarged, and contains 

 the seeds. This squash has the characteristics of a pumpkin, and is used 

 much in the same way that the cheese pumpkin is. 



Var. corona (Crowned Squash). Fruit expanded near the stem into a 

 broad, circular, turban-like process, much larger in diameter than the extended 

 part. This expanded part is solid, and the cell containing the seed is in tlie 

 contracted end. 



Varieties. — These are the principal marrow squashes. There are many 

 forms, but the above are the favorites with gardeners and amateurs. 



The Custard Squash, a large variety, is grown for stock. 



Puritan Srpiash, grown largely in New England, is very constant, very hardy 

 and productive, and raised both for the table and for stock ; skin white, marked 

 with green mottled stripes. 



The Valparaiso Si/uashes, of which we frequently have specimens brought 

 from California, some of them weighing more than a hundred pounds, have 

 not been fully described. 



4. C. ovifera, Gray. (Orange Gourd Squash.) The fruit of this species is 

 small and egg-shaped, and by cultivation it is supposed to have given rise to 

 the following forms : — 



Autumnal Marrow. Stem 10 to 15 feet in length, and stout. Fruit ovoid 

 or spindle-shaped, furrowed and ridged, the blossom end tipped with a short 

 nipple ; skin very creamy, yellow ; flesh sweet and delicate. Ripens early in 

 August. Keeps well. 



Hubbard Squash is in shape and quality very much like the Autumnal Mar- 

 row, color a bluish-green, flesh orange-color and delicate ; smoother than the 

 last, 8 to 10 inches long, and 6 to 8 in diameter. 



Sweet Potato Squash resembles the above two in shape and character, a foot 

 long, 7 or 8 inches in diameter, skin ashy green, smooth and polished ; flesh 

 salmon-yellow ; thick-fleshed and fine-grained. 



Var. MeduUosa. 



Vegetable Marrow. Its stem 12 to 15 feet in length, leaves deeply 5-lobed ; 

 fruit 8 to 10 inches long, elliptical in .shape, ribbed and furrowed lengthwise; 

 tlesh white and delicate. Keeps well through the winter. 



Etymologi/. — Melopepo is from the two Greek words fxrjKov, an apple, and 

 TTfiruv, a melon, an apple melon. The fruit in a natural state is of the size 

 and shape of an apple. Maxima is Latin for great, and is due to the size of 

 this species. Corona is Latin for crown, given on account of the turban or 

 crown-like process at the stem end of this variety. Verrucosa is from the Latin 

 verrucosiis, wartv, on account of the warts that abound on the skin of the fruit 

 of this variety. Ovifera, from the Latin ovum, an egg, is due to the oval shape 

 of the fruit of this species. 



Hist or I/. — Dr. Gray believes that the C. ovifera is the ancestor of all the 

 American scjuashes. It is claimed, however, by some authorities that Europe 

 or western Asia is the home of the C. maxima. But Pickering claims that 



