SYSTEMATIC BOTANY OF THE CULTIVATED CUCURBITS 



13 



description in his Flora Uruguay 2:143, 1905, and the 

 discussion by Parodi in his paper on pre-Hispanic agri- 

 culture i-n Argentina,'-' render this plant of interest as a 

 possible wild type of C. maxima. The mottling of 

 leaves is known to us, however, only in C. Pepo and 

 C. moschata. 



10. Cucurbits Pepo L. Sp. PL 1010. 1753. 

 Pumpkin, Summer Squash. — C. verrucosa and C. 

 Melopepo L. /. c. C. mammeata Molina, Sagg. 

 Chili. 133. 1782. C. Pepo polymorpha Duch. in 

 Lam. Encycl. 2:152. 1786. Pt'po vulgaris, P. ver- 

 rucosus, and P. Melopepo Moench, Meth. 653. 1794. 

 Cucurbita fastuosa Salisb. Prod. 157. 1796. C. 

 subverrucosa Willd. Sp. P7. 4:609. 1805. C. escu- 

 lenta S. F. Gray, War. Arr. Br. PL 2:552. 1821. 

 C. Courgero Ser. Mem. Soc. ffisr. TVar. Gen. 3 2 :t. 1. 



1825. Pepo Citrullus Sag. y4nn. Sci. Nat. I. 9:311. 



1826. Cucurbita venosa Descourt. FL Antill. 5:79. 



1827. C. clodiensis Nacc. FL Ven. 5:52. 1828. 

 C. maxima ■) Courgero Ser. in D. C. Prod. 3:316. 



1828. C. Oblonga Link, Handb. 1:643. 1829. C. 

 pileoformis Roem. Syn. Pepon. 86. 1846. 



(C. asteroides, cucumifera, elongata, tuberculosa and 

 urnigera Schrad. Ind. Sem. Gott. and in Linnaea 10:12. 1836 

 and 1838, are names only or names with inadequate descriptions 

 which are generally considered as synonyms of C. Pepo. Cucumis 

 Zapallo and Cucurbita radiata Steud. Nom. ed. 2. 452. 1840, 

 are likewise herbarium names usually associated with this species. 

 Cucurbita succado Naeg., C. hybrida Bertol., and the following 

 garden names, C. aurantiformis, C. tricolor, C. bicorporea, 

 C. coronata, C. marsupiiformis, C. pyriformis, C. stellata. 

 C. turbinata and C. variegata are listed by Naudin, Ann. Sci. 

 Nat. VI. 6:129. 1856, as also applying here. In addition to the 

 names cited above a large number of Latin names were used by 

 Alefeld. Landw. FL 1866.) 



Annual erect or trailing plants with prickly, or occasionally 

 soft hairy angled or grooved stems; leaves angular lobed or deep'y 

 cut, green, occasionally marbled with white and rarely silvered over 

 the entire surface, the lower veins more or less naked near the point 

 of attachment to petiole; flowers bright yellow to orange-yellow, 

 corolla lobes acute; anther column slender, straight and slightly 

 exceeding the length of the filaments; fruit shape various, the 

 peduncle hard and more or less strongly ridged; seeds more or less 

 light buffy or pale tan. 



Native to America and highly variable. Numerous 

 attempts have been made to make a botanical classifica- 

 tion of the horticultural groups but none are successful 

 because of the intergradation of characters. The small 

 yellow-flowered gourds noted below are fairly distinct; 

 otherwise no criteria are available for the taxonomic 

 segregation of the various groups. 



The scallops, patty pans or cumlings are the type of 

 C. Melopepo and of the form clypeiformis; the crook- 

 necks were classified as the form torticollis by Alefeld. 

 Bailey united both these groups under the name var. 

 condensa and later amended Alefeld's C. Pepo Melo- 

 pepo to include them. This grouping depends mainly 

 on two characters — the short nodes and consequent 

 bushy type of plant and the edibility of the fruit before 

 maturity. However, there are vining types which reach j 



their optimum stage of edibility before maturity and the 

 writer has bred long-running types of crooknecks (short- 

 running specimens are not rare) ; and a long-running 

 scallop is also known. The vegetable marrows were 

 named var. medullosa by Alefeld but intergrading 

 types render such segregation valueless taxonomically. 

 Arbitrary horticultural groupings with non -Latin names 

 seem to the writer to be the only reasonable method of 

 segregating these forms. Such a classification is made 

 in a succeeding chapter. 



The only distinct group of variants of taxonomic 

 significance seems to be : 



10a. C. Pepo ovifera Alef. Landw. FL 224. 1866. 

 Yellow flowered Gourd. C. ovifera L. Mant. 126. 

 1767. C. aurantia Willd. Sp. PL 4:609. 1805. C. 

 pyxidaris DC. FL Fr. 3:693. 1815. Pepo pyridaris 

 Poir. Diet. Sci. Nat. 8:237. 1818. Cucurbita 

 ceratoceras Haberle in Spix & Mart. Reise 1:536. 

 1823. C. pomiformis Roem. Syn. Pepon. 85. 1846. 

 C. grisea Roem. /. c. 86. Tristemon texanum 

 Scheele, Linnaea 21:586. 1848. Cucurbita texana 

 A. Gray. PL Lindh. 2:193. 1850. 



More slender vines with generally thinner, smaller and less 

 abundant foliage than in the species; fruits small, hard-shelled, bitter 

 and inedible, of various shapes and markings. 



The names Apple, Pear, Orange, Nest-egg, Bishop's 

 Mitre, etc., suggest some of the forms and colors that 

 render these fruits attractive and popular ornamentals. 



11. Cucurbita maxima Duch. in Lam. Encycl. 

 2:151. 1786. Fall and Winter Squashes and Pumpkins. 

 C. Potiro Pers. Syn. PL 2:593. 1807. Pepo Potiro 

 Sag. Ann. Sci. Nat. I. 8:311. 1826. Cucurbita 

 maxima a Potiro and (3 viridis Ser. in DC. Prod. 3:316. 

 1828. Pepo maximus Peterm. FL Lips. Excurs. 562. 

 1838. P. macrocarpus Rich, ex Spach. Veg. Phan. 

 6:202. 1838. Cucurbita Farinae Mozz. ex Naud. 

 Ann. Sci. Nat. IV. 6:17. 1856. C. maxima sylvestris 

 Naud. 1. c. C. Rapallito Carr. Rev. Hort. (1872) 399. 

 1873. Cucumis Rapallito Carr. L c. 



Annual generally long-running but occasionally short-running 

 vines (rarely bushy plants), with slightly ridged or striate stems 

 somewhat bristly-hirsute or sparingly setaceous; leaves green, 

 orbicular or nearly so, usually sinuate-margined (rarely lobed, the 

 lobes then rounded or very obtuse); margins soft mucronate, the 

 basal veins naked for an inch or more from point of attachment to 

 petiole; flowers light to deep yellow; calyx lobes short and narrow; 

 corolla lobes usually somewhat reflexed, crenate-sinuate, very 

 obtuse, anther column obtuse, much longer than filaments, slightly 

 contorted; fruits top-shaped, globular, oblong, or flattened cylin- 

 dric, not heavily ridged; fruit stalk more or less spongy and cylin- 

 drical; seeds usually clear white or fawn-colored, apex ordinarily 

 oblique. 



Native of South America and possibly derived from 

 a form similar to C. Andreana. While this species 

 is not as variable as C. Pepo, there are several horticul- 

 tural groups; and one, the following, which possibly merits 

 taxonomic status. 



'See Anales de la Academia Nacional de Agronomia y Veterinaria de Buenos Aires. 1:142. 1935. 



