THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



" squash," " ecushaws," " bucklers " or " buckler- 

 gourds," " simnels " and, in French, " melons," " gros 

 melons," " courges," " concombres," and " citronelles." 

 Sturtevant in his Notes 4 has traced back the usage 

 of many of these names; as has L. H. Bailey in his paper 

 " De Cucurbitis Domesticatis — I." 5 



It is very likely that the pepos were the first to be 

 introduced into Europe and among the earliest was the 

 small, apple-shaped type of pumpkin now represented by 

 " Perfect Gem." Described by Fuchsius in 1542 and by 

 Tragus ten years later, this form seems also to have been 

 the " maycock " of early Virginian reports. The Bush 

 Scallop or Cymling type was apparently known to 

 Bauhin in 1561 and is the " buckler " or " simnel gourd " 

 of Ray in 1686. The Connecticut Field types, or as 

 Burr in 1863 called them the " Canada " and " Common 

 Yellow " forms, were known shortly after the middle 

 of the 16th century to Bauhin, Lobelius, Gerard, and 

 others. Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum cited a cut 

 from Dalechamps (1586 or 1587) which is a reversed 

 picture of a cut in Mathiolus (1560). 



The moschatas soon followed, Large Cheese being 

 apparently known to Lobelius in 1591, as was, according 

 to Sturtevant's views, a form similar to Tennessee Sweet 

 Potato. The striped Winter Crookneck was probably 

 the " ecushaw " of Thomas Hariot in his " Narrative 

 of the First English plantation of Virginia," first printed 

 in London in 1588, and was almost certainly the form 

 recorded by Ray (1686) who received seeds from Sir 

 Hans Sloane and planted them in his garden. 



The early records for the maximas are rather 

 scarce though plates from Lobelius' Icones (1581) and 

 Bauhin's Historia (1619) are listed as illustrating this 

 species by later writers and are recognizable as to type 

 of flower, leaf and fruit. The turban variety was 

 apparently also seen by Bauhin in 1607. 



In northeastern America the maximas seem not 

 to have been known and all early records point to an 

 extensive use of pepos and moschatas. Such early 

 references as have been made to Hubbard-like forms 

 may well refer to forms of pepo like Nantucket. The 

 general use of squashes, in the strict sense of forms of 

 C. maxima, began with the introduction of Acorn, 

 Valparaiso and other South American forms by Yankee 

 sailors early in the 19th century. 



Of the pepos, curiously enough the crookneck does 

 not appear with certainty in literature until 1828 when, 

 according to Sturtevant, it was listed by Thorburn, 

 though scallops or cymlings, the large yellow types, and 

 the rough green Nantucket-like forms were all noted by 

 early colonists. The vegetable marrows, both English 

 and Italian forms, are also apparently fairly recent 

 developments as are the so-called " fall squashes " of 

 both maxima and pepo types. 



Paralleling the controversy over the American origin 

 of the squashes has been the discussion of the origin of 

 the Bur Gherkin (Cucumis Anguria) still occasionally 

 called the West Indian Gherkin. That its wild counter- 

 part has not been found in Africa is of little significance 

 compared to the facts that all its near allies are African, 

 that there are no American relatives, and that it has 

 been found in America only where it could have been 

 introduced by the negroes or through their more or less 

 direct agency. Both Hooker and DeCandolle believed 

 the Gherkin to be of African origin and no evidence has 

 been offered other than mere arbitrary statements for an 

 American origin. Like many another plant from the 

 Old World it has apparently found conditions in America 

 well adapted for its dissemination and so-called wild 

 specimens are undoubtedly adventive. It is unquestion- 

 ably of African origin and was introduced into the 

 warmer parts of America in the 16th century. 



The cucumber (Cucumis sativus) or the primitive 

 form from which it descended, probably originated in 

 Africa but very early spread to Asia where it has been 

 found wild in Northern India and where according to 

 DeCandolle, it has been cultivated for three thousand 

 years. It was grown by the ancient Greeks and Romans. 

 In the Caucasus region there are names for the cucumber 

 that indicate knowledge of the plant before it was known 

 to the Sanskrit, but there seems to be no certain evidence 

 that it was known to the ancient Egyptians. It was 

 cultivated throughout most of Europe in the Middle 

 Ages. Many of the forms grown at the time of the 

 early herbals seem to have been less symmetrical and 

 more rugged than those grown today, though Mathiolus 

 (1560) and Bauhin (1650) show figures of types very 

 like some of our modern improved varieties. A half 

 dozen or more types seem to have been known in Europe 

 in the 16th century. 



The melon (Cucumis Melo) also originated in 

 tropical Africa. DeCandolle in his " Origin of Culti- 

 vated Plants " says " several forms found wild which 

 have been described as species, must be the types and 

 sources of the cultivated forms; and Naudin makes the 

 very just observation that these wild types which differ 

 more or less from one another may have produced dif- 

 ferent cultivated varieties. This is the more probable 

 since they sometimes inhabit countries as remote from 

 each other as Southern Asia and tropical Africa, so that 

 differences in climate and isolation have created and 

 consolidated varieties." However, with three rather 

 dubious exceptions, all species of Cucumis are definitely 

 of African origin and the closest allies of these three are 

 native African species. There can be no reasonable 

 doubt of the origin of the genus in tropical Africa, 

 though C. 7VTe/o and C. sativus apparently spread into 

 Asia sufficiently early for rather typical forms to have 



1 Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants — U. P. Hedrick. 27th Ann. Rept. N. Y. Agr. Exp. Station, Vol. 2. pt. 2. 1919. 



' Bailey, L. H., Gentes Herbarum 2: 63. 1929. This paper is a most delightful and informing discussion of cultivated Cucurbitas 

 and one that should be read by all interested in these fascinating plants. To Dr. Bailey, both for his elucidation of many points of difficulty 

 in the discussion just mentioned and for the privilege of consulting the excellent collection in his herbarium, the authors here wish to express 

 their gratitude. 



