CHAPTER I 

 THE HISTORY OF THE CULTIVATED CUCURBITS 



NEW YORK 



BOTANICAL 



GARDEN 



The history of the cultivated cucurbits, if written in 

 full, would form a large part of the story of the develop- 

 ment of agriculture in the tropics and subtropics of both 

 Old World and New. Of the forms most cultivated in 

 New York State, the squashes \ pumpkins, etc. (Cucur- 

 bita spp. > originated in tropical America w^hile the 

 melons and cucumbers {Cucumis spp.) as well as the 

 watermelon {Citrullus vulgaris) and the gourd - 

 {Lagenaria siceraria) came from the tropics of the 

 Old World. Of the other genera briefly mentioned in 

 this volume about half are of New World origin and the 

 remainder are from the warmer parts of the eastern 

 hemisphere. 



The place of origin of the annual Cucurbitas was 

 long a moot question. As late as 1855 DeCandolle was 

 dubious as to their source, but in 1882 he had admitted 

 that the pepos were of American origin, though he still 

 doubted that maii'mas were from the same region. At 

 that time he gave the weight of evidence as favoring an 

 American origin for a third member of this group, the 

 moschatas; and noted in regard to the black-seeded 

 perennial pumpkin or Malabar gourd (Cucurbita 

 ficifolia) that he doubted its Asiatic origin "as all 

 the known perennial species of Cucurbita are from Mexico 

 or California." All recent evidence, however, points to 

 tropical America as the place of origin of the three 

 important domesticated types as well as the two or three 

 less known species. There are no unquestionable records 

 of annual Cucurbitas in pre-Columbian times except in 

 America. Seeds belonging apparently to nearly all 

 species are known from pre-Columbian graves. The 

 flowers held a sacred place in the religion of some of the 

 Indian tribes, pointing to a great antiquity of culture. 3 



Results of crossing the three species suggest some 

 type of moschata or a very closely allied form as the 

 primitive type of the group, and moschata is extremely 

 common and widespread in the American Tropics. 

 According to Vaviloff's theory that the center of distri- 

 bution of a species is marked by a concentration of 



variations of that species, tropical America would thus 

 be designated as the place of origin of the annual types. 

 From this center apparently the maximas first developed 

 in the southern part of the region and spread into Peru, 

 Bolivia, and other South American countries. Sometime 

 later it would seem that the pepos developed on the 

 northern border and spread north through Mexico and 

 the southern United States. There is evidence that 

 seeds were carried from one region to the other, possibly 

 by trade, and consequently a few members of each type 

 are found in the general distribution region of the others. 

 While such forms of maxima as Arikara and Winnebago 

 were introduced into American trade from forms culti- 

 vated by plains and prairie Indians, it seems a reasonable 

 explanation, in view of the history of these peoples — 

 the Arikara and related tribes having come originally 

 from the Southwest — that these varieties actually 

 originated in the tropics and found their way northward 

 at a fairly early date. It is likewise extremely probable 

 that the annual species originated from perennial 

 ancestors in southern Mexico or northern Central 

 America. 



The culture of some of these squashes and pumpkins 

 is nearly if not quite as old as that of maize; and the 

 presence in eastern Asia of peculiar forms of squashes 

 (and of waxy-endosperm corn) hints of the possibility 

 of transfer to Asia by a returning migration of the 

 aborigines — a circumstance that has been indirectly 

 suggested by the ethnologists interested in the origin of 

 the American Indian. However, the distribution of 

 most of the New World types into the Old World and 

 vice-versa took place in the 16th and 17th centuries. 

 It is rather difficult in many cases to tie up the names 

 used then with the forms now known or the present use of 

 these names. The following names are found in the 

 older literature, and many of the terms are used as 

 indiscriminately as are our present epithets: " pompions " 

 or " pumpions," " pumpkins," " gourds," " melons," 

 " millions," " maycocks," " askutasquash," " quaasien," 



1 The terms " squash " and " pumpkin " are unfortunately among the few common English names that do not refer to a specific kind 

 of plant. Of the three distinct species of domesticated cucurbits, viz., Cucurbita maxima. C. Pepo, and C. moschata. all have forms to 

 which these names are applied. An attempt, thus far unsuccessful, has been made in America to restrict the use of the term " squash " 

 to varieties of Cucurbita maxima and to apply the term " pumpkin " to the other two species. In Australia nearly the opposite recom- 

 mendation has been made: namely, that " squash " be applied tc C. Pepo and " pumpkin " to C. maxima — the terms " gramma " or 

 "rio" being applied to C. moschata. The Australian recommendation is, we believe, the more logical; but, since trade catalogs and horti- 

 cultural literature in general still apply these names more or less indiscriminately, it has been decided for the purposes of this volume to refer 

 to these three kinds of plants simply as " maximas," " pepos," and " moschatas," leaving the use of the terms " squash " and " pumpkin " 

 as local tradition and common usage may dictate. 



- Gourd is likewise used as a general name, the entire family Cucurbitaceae being known as the gourd family. In a more specific 

 way the term refers to the hard-shelled types of fruits; and the useful and the so-called ornamental gourds which are so popular at present, 

 are fruits of various species including Benincasa hispida, Cucumis dipsaceus. Cucumis Melo, Cucurbita Pepo ovifera, Lagenaria 

 siceraria, Luffa cylindrica, Momordica Charantia, Trichosant hes Anguina, and others. It should be noted that the " Calabash 

 gourd " is the fruit of Lagenaria while the true Calabash is the fruit of Crescentia Cujete, a tree belonging to the same family as the catalpa. 



3 Reference should be made here to a recent paper by L. R. Parodi in Anales de la Academia Nacional de Agronomia y Veterinaria de 

 Buenos Aires, 1 : 142. 1935) in which he lists C. maxima among the plants cultivated by the natives of northeastern Argentina before the 

 arrival of the Spaniards. 



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