Are Pumpkins And Squash Closely Related?
There is ample archaeological evidence to show that the diverse varieties of squash and pumpkins grown today throughout the world originated from wild Cucurbita gourds cultivated in the Americas for thousands of years by native Indians. Sorting out all the varieties of edible cucurbits with their correct species identification is very difficult, although it is nicely summarized in Hortus Third by L.H. Bailey and E.Z. Bailey, 1976. A more updated summary is given in Cucurbits (Crop Production Science in Horticulture 6) by R.W. Robinson and D.S. Decker-Walters (1997). The immature, soft-rind summer squash, including the summer crookneck, straightneck, table queen (acorn), zucchini and white bush scallop, are all varieties of Cucurbita pepo. According to Smithsonian archeologist Bruce Smith and archaeologist Wesley Cowan of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, a variety of C. pepo native to the Ozark region of Arkansas and Missouri (C. pepo ssp. ovifera var. ozarkana) may be the livi
