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Cucurbita maxima

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Cucurbita maxima
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Cucurbita
Species:
C. maxima
Binomial name
Cucurbita maxima
Subspecies
  • C. maxima subsp. andreana
  • C. maxima subsp. maxima
Synonyms[1]
  • Cucumis rapallito Carrière
  • Cucumis zapallito Carrière
  • Cucurbita farinae Mozz. ex Naudin
  • Cucurbita maxima var. triloba Millán
  • Cucurbita maxima var. turgida L.H.Bailey
  • Cucurbita maxima var. zapallito (Carrière) Millán
  • Cucurbita maxima var. zipinka Millán
  • Cucurbita pileiformis M.Roem.
  • Cucurbita rapallito Carrière
  • Cucurbita sulcata Blanco
  • Cucurbita turbaniformis M.Roem.
  • Cucurbita zapallito Carrière
  • Pepo maximus Peterm.
  • Pileocalyx elegans Gasp.

Cucurbita maxima, one of at least five species of cultivated squash, is one of the most diverse domesticated species.[2] This species originated in South America from the wild subspecies Cucurbita maxima subsp. andreana over 4,000 years ago.[3] Cucurbita maxima, known for modern varieties as Hubbard, Delicious, Marblehead, Boston Marrow, and Turks Turban, originated in northern Argentina near the Andes or in certain Andean valleys.[4] Secondary centers of diversity include India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the southern Appalachians.

Different squash types of this species were introduced into North America as early as the 16th century. By the American Revolution, the species was in cultivation by Native American tribes throughout the present-day United States. By the early 19th century, at least three varieties are known to have been commercially introduced in North America from seeds obtained from Native Americans.[5]

Types

Subspecies andreana

Cucurbita maxima subsp. andreana fruits (top), plant in the middle of the season (middle) and fruits left at the end of the season (bottom). The opaque ones are fruits left on earlier seasons from a different plant on the same place.
Different fruit types of C. maxima subsp. andreana from Argentina[6]

At one time considered a separate species, andreana has been placed by modern biosystematics as a subspecies of C. maxima. It is native to Argentina and Uruguay and is the ancestor of the domesticated forms. C. andreana fruits are smaller and not palatable.[5][3] It hybridizes readily with individuals of other C. maxima subspecies.

C. maxima subsp. andreana has notably different calcium levels than individuals of other C. maxima subspecies.[7] C. andreana has yellow flowers and bright green striped fruit. Extrafloral nectaries are present in C. maxima but not necessarily in C. andreana.[8]

It was first formally described by Charles Victor Naudin in 1896, in Revue Horticole.[9]

Cultivars

A Pink Banana squash, cut, with seeds removed, with a U.S. quarter for size comparison.
A buttercup squash.
A cut open blue hubbard squash.
A golden hubbard squash.
  • Arikara squash is an heirloom variety of C. maxima. Fruits weigh from four to eleven pounds. The shape of the fruit can be tear-drop or round, and they are colored in a mottled orange and green pattern. It is desired both for its eating qualities and as a seasonal decoration. This variety traces its ancestry to the Arikara tribe of the Dakotas, among whom its cultivation predates white settlement.
  • Banana squash has an elongated shape, with light blue, pink or orange skin and bright orange flesh.
  • Boston marrow sweet tasting, narrow at one end and bulbous at the other.[10]
  • Buttercup squash is a common variety, with a turban shape (a flattish top) and dark green skin, weighing three to five pounds, and normally heavy with dense, yellow-orange flesh. Not to be confused with butternut squash.
  • Candy Roaster squash is a landrace developed by the Cherokee people in the southern Appalachians. It is variable in size and shape with more than 40 distinct forms according to one authority[11]. Candy roasters consistently feature fine-textured orange flesh, while varying in in size (from 10 lbs to more than 250 lbs); shape (including round, cylindrical, teardrop, and blocky); and color (pink, tan, green, blue, gray, and orange).[12]
  • Hubbard squash is another cultivar of this species that usually has a tear-drop shape. It is often used as a replacement for pumpkins in cooking. According to one source,[13] the name comes from Bela Hubbard, settler of Randolph Township, Ohio in the Connecticut Western Reserve. Many other sources list an alternate history.[14][15] These sources state the hubbard squash (at the time nameless) came to Marblehead, Massachusetts through Captain Knott Martin. A woman named Elizabeth Hubbard brought the fruit to the attention of her neighbor, a seed trader named James J. H. Gregory. Mr. Gregory subsequently introduced it to the market using Mrs. Hubbard's name as the eponym. Gregory later bred and released the blue hubbard, which has a bluish-gray skin. The other major variety, the golden hubbard squash, has a bright orange skin. Gregory advertisements for the squash date from at least 1859.[16] The hubbard squash, including questions regarding the name, is even the subject of a children's ditty, "Raising Hubbard Squash in Vermont".[17]
  • Jarrahdale pumpkin is a pumpkin with gray skin. It is nearly identical to 'Queensland Blue' and 'Sweet Meat' varieties.
  • Kabocha is a Japanese variety with dark green skin and bright golden-orange flesh.
  • Lakota squash is an American variety.
  • Nanticoke squash is a rare heirloom variety that was traditionally grown by the Nanticoke people of Delaware and Eastern Maryland. It is one of only a few surviving Native American winter squashes from the Eastern woodlands.
  • Turban squash, also known as "French turban", an heirloom predating 1820, and closely related to the buttercup squash.

Uses

Buttercup squash, a common cultivar, can be roasted, baked, and mashed into soups, among a variety of filler uses, much like pumpkin. It is extremely popular, especially as a soup, in Brazil, Colombia, and Africa.

All giant pumpkins (over 100 pounds or 45 kilograms) are of this species, including the largest pumpkins ever documented, which have attained a size of 2,624.6 pounds (1,190.5 kg) as of 2020.[18]

The seed of C. maxima is used in treating parasites in animals.[19]

Cultivation

Since this plant requires a fair amount of hot weather for best growth, it has not become very well established in northern Europe, the British Isles, or in similar areas with short or cool summers.[4]

Many cultivars of Cucurbita maxima have been developed. Only long-vining plants are known in this species.[4] As in C. pepo, plants exist with a "bush habit" that is particularly evident in young plants, but older plants grow in the wild-type vining manner.[20]

  • Typical "Zapallito" summer squash fruit.
    Typical "Zapallito" summer squash fruit.
  • A vining cultivar growing up to a roof.
    A vining cultivar growing up to a roof.
  • Plant
    Plant

References

  1. ^ "Cucurbita maxima". The Plant List. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  2. ^ Ferriol, María; Picó, Belén; Nuez, Fernando (2004). "Morphological and Molecular Diversity of a Collection of Cucurbita maxima Landraces". Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 129 (1): 60–69. doi:10.21273/JASHS.129.1.0060.
  3. ^ a b Sanjur, Oris I.; Piperno, Dolores R.; Andres, Thomas C.; Wessel-Beaver, Linda (2002). "Phylogenetic Relationships among Domesticated and Wild Species of Cucurbita (Cucurbitaceae) Inferred from a Mitochondrial Gene: Implications for Crop Plant Evolution and Areas of Origin" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99 (1). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences: 535–540. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99..535S. doi:10.1073/pnas.012577299. JSTOR 3057572. PMC 117595. PMID 11782554.
  4. ^ a b c Victor E. Boswell and Else Bostelmann. "Our Vegetable Travelers." The National Geographic Magazine. 96.2: August 1949.
  5. ^ a b Nee, Michael (1990). "The Domestication of Cucurbita (Cucurbitaceae)". Economic Botany. 44 (3, Supplement: New Perspectives on the Origin and Evolution of New World Domesticated Plants). New York: New York Botanical Gardens Press: 56–68. doi:10.1007/BF02860475. JSTOR 4255271. S2CID 40493539.
  6. ^ Millán, R. (1945). "Variaciones del zapallito amargo Cucurbita andreana y el origen de Cucurbita maxima". Revista Argentina de Agronomía (in Spanish). 12: 86–93.
  7. ^ Skilnyk, Hilary R.; Lott, John N. A. (1992). "Mineral analyses of storage reserves of Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita andreana pollen". Canadian Journal of Botany. 70 (3): 491–495. doi:10.1139/b92-063.
  8. ^ López-Anido, Fernando; Vesprini, José (2007). "Extrafloral Nectaries in Cucurbita maxima Sub. andreana (Naudin) Filov". Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report. 30. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State University: 38–42.
  9. ^ "Cucurbita maxima". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  10. ^ "Boston Marrow Squash". Rare Seeds. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  11. ^ Best, Bill (2013-04-15). Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste: Heirloom Seed Savers in Appalachia. Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-4462-7.
  12. ^ Dwivedi, Sangam; Goldman, Irwin; Ortiz, Rodomiro (August 2019). "Pursuing the Potential of Heirloom Cultivars to Improve Adaptation, Nutritional, and Culinary Features of Food Crops". Agronomy. 9 (8): 441. doi:10.3390/agronomy9080441. ISSN 2073-4395.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  13. ^ Troyer, Loris C. (1998). Portage Pathways. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-87338-600-5.
  14. ^ Watson, Ben (1996). Taylor's Guides to Heirloom Vegetables: A Complete Guide to the Best Historic and Ethnic Varieties. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcour. p. 268. ISBN 978-0-395-70818-7.
  15. ^ "James J. H.Gregory: A Timeline of his Life". SaveSeeds.org. Archived from the original on November 3, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  16. ^ Downing, Andrew Jackson (May 1859). The Horticulturalist, and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste. Vol. 14. New York: C. M. Saxton, Barker & Co. p. 4.
  17. ^ Cady, Daniel Leavens (1919). Rhymes of Vermont Rural Life. Rutland, VT: The Tuttle Company. p. 100.
  18. ^ "World Record Achievements". GiantPumpkin.com. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  19. ^ Díaz, Obregón D.; Lloja, Lozano L.; Carbajal, Zúñiga V. (2004). "Preclinical studies of cucurbita maxima (pumpkin seeds) a traditional intestinal antiparasitic in rural urban areas". Revista de Gastroenterologia del Perú (in Spanish). 24 (4): 323–327. PMID 15614300.
  20. ^ Mark G. Hutton and R.W. Robinson. "Gene List for Cucurbita spp". Retrieved 16 November 2014.
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