DESCRIPTION OF CUOURBITA 
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elongated, with or without longitudinal ribs; sometimes smooth, 
sometimes warty. 
2. Cucurbit a moschata. — The stem of this species has not 
quite the same diameter as those of C. Pepo and C. maxima. 
The stem is nearly cylindrical or slightly 5-sided, and oftentimes 
shows rather dark spots at the insertion of the petiole. The 
petioles are cylindrical, with alternate light green and dark green 
stripes, uniformly hispid, but hardly ever with spiny and prickly 
hairs. The leaves are of a characteristic dark green, but often 
they are marked with white triangular spots at the angles formed 
by the principal veins. The leaves are velvety, or comparatively 
soft to the touch, round, reniform, denticulately notched at the 
margin, ordinarily with five or sometimes six sharp lobes, seldom 
obtuse or rounded, separated by the equally sharp sinus. The 
male flowers possess very prominent characteristics for this 
species. While in C. Pepo and C. maxima the calyx tube is often 
more or less campanulate, in C. moschata the calyx tube is absent 
or reduced to a sort of plateau, scarcely raised at its borders. 
The sepals instead of being filiform as among C. maxima , or awl- 
shaped as in C.Pepo , are flat, linear, often terminating in one or 
more lobes, signs .of an aborted limb. Oftentimes this limb is 
developed into a small leaf, more or less rounded and denticular, 
10 to 15 millimeters long. The sepals are of a very dark green 
color which also may be regarded as a special characteristic of 
this species. The corolla is of a less bright color. The peduncle 
of the fruit is angular, deeply ridged and swollen where it joins 
the fruit. The form of the fruit varies to a great extent. 
3. Cucurbita maxima. — The stems are almost always long and 
trailing, sometimes short and only a little running, but never up- 
right. Mostly cylindrical or very slightly angled. The leaves 
are more or less reniform, with five short, obtuse, rounded lobes, 
oftentimes without any sinus. In some instances the lobes are 
sharp, but the sinuses which separate them are always little pro- 
nounced. The flower peduncle (male as well as female) is cylin- 
drical and not angled. The calyx tube of the male flowers is 
campanulate or rather obconic, of rounded contour, and does not 
show any constriction below the point where the sepals are in- 
serted. The sepals are generally narrow, linear, thin, sometimes 
filiform or totally abortive, very seldom enlarged and not giving 
the aspect of foliage leaves. The corolla is campanulate, with 
reflected lobes, generally of a bright yellow color. The peduncle 
of the fruit is always cylindrical or claviform. 
