890 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 77. 



According to the Index the two most 

 important cultivated forms, Cucurbita Pepo 

 and C. maxima, are looked upon as being 

 natives of the eastern hemisphere and not 

 of the western. Naudin, who made a care- 

 ful and painstaking study of the cucurbits, 

 is not so dogmatic. He saj's :* " De ces 

 six especes, trois sont alimentaires et 

 cultivees depuis lougtemps en Europe : ce 

 sont C. maxima, Pepo et mosehata, dont 

 la patrie premiere est inconnue L'une 

 d'entre elles, le C. Pepo, a peut-etre ete 

 connue des Romains et des Grecs." De 

 Candolle saysf in relation to the original 

 home of Cucurbita maxima : " Finallj'', with- 

 out placing implicit faith in the indigenous 

 character of the plant on the banks of the 

 Niger, based upon the assertion of a single 

 traveller, I still believe that the species is a 

 native of the Old World and introduced 

 into America bj' Europeans." In connec- 

 tion with this statement, the French bot- 

 anist reviews the paper of Gray and Trum- 

 buU'l and dissents from their views, because 

 they were not based upon the observations 

 of Navidin conceiming the distinction exist- 

 ing between C. maxima and C. Pejyo. The 

 original home of Cucurbita maxima and C. 

 Pepo, as far as I can discover from a cur- 

 sory examination of the literature, is still 

 doubtful, the Index Kewensis, however, 

 throwing the weight of its influence towards 

 an eastern origin. De Candolle* believes 

 that Cucurbita Pepo is an American plant. 

 He says : " Botanical indications are, there- 

 fore, in favor of a Mexican or Texan ori- 

 gin." " Thus historical data do not gain- 

 say the opinion of an American origin, but 

 neither do they adduce anything in support 

 of it." 



* Naudin, AnnaUs des Sciences KaiureUes, 4 Ser. 

 VI., 15 ff. 



tl8S5, De Caxdolle, Origin of Cullivaled Plants, 

 p. 253. 



tl883. Geay and Teumbull, American Journal of 

 Science, p. 372. 



According to ISTuttall,* the Indians along 

 the whole upper Missouri half a century 

 ago were cultivating C. verrucosa. This 

 common squash is according to Naudin a 

 vai'iety of C. Pepo, as is also C. aurcmtia 

 (the C. Texana or C. ovifera of Gray), which 

 has every appearance of being indigenous 

 in the western part of Texas, on the Eio 

 Colorado and upper tributaries. At least, 

 this is the opinion of Mr. Lindheimer and 

 Mr. Charles Wright, two good judges. 



In looking over the plant materials col- 

 lected in the undoubted prehistoric cliff 

 dwellings of the Mancos Caiion, Colorado, 

 and in identifying the vegetal specimens, as 

 far as the material permitted, I became 

 much interested in the seeds of some 

 cucurbitaceous plant, which looked famil- 

 iarly like those of the pumpkin. I was not 

 satisfied, however, of this until I had made 

 a somewhat detailed histological study. 

 This was the more uecessarj^, because the 

 utmost confusion seems to reign as to the 

 sj)ecific limits of several of the more inter- 

 esting cultivated forms. There is not a 

 group of plants the synonymj^ of which is 

 more confused than that of the Cucurbits. 

 Harzf and Borbas J give somewhat detailed 

 descriptions of the anatomj^ of the seeds of 

 Cucurbita maxima and Pepo, the former from 

 an agricultural standpoint, the latter from 

 a botanical. On comparing the seeds found 

 in the cliff dwelling exhibit Avith the 

 descriptions of both investigators, it was 

 found that in everj' respect the seeds were 

 those of the pumpkin Cucurbita Pepo. 

 Space will not pei-mit a detailed account 

 of this investigation, but the results ob- 

 tained iudisputablj' prove that the pump- 

 kin is a native of America. It is fortunate 

 that the seeds were obtained from the ruins 



*Gea\', Scientific Papers, I., p. 85. 



1 1885, Haez, LandwirthseliafiJiche Samenkunde, p. 

 795, 811. 



1 1830, BOEBAS VlNCZE, Foldmiivelesi Erde Keink, 

 No. 52, quoted in Botanische Centralhlait, VIII. (?) . 



