Cucurbita maxima
Cucurbita foetidissima
Queensland blue or Atlantic giant or Mammoth pumpkin, winter marrow, winter or Hubbard or blue Hubbard or golden Hubbard or Turk's turban or banana or Queensland blue or buttercup or Hokkaido squash, winter squash
buffalo, buffalo gourd, calabazilla, chili coyote, foetid, Missouri gourd
prostrate, sometimes rooting adventitiously at nodes, ca. 2–10 m, puberulent to scabrous with pustulate-based hairs;
tendrils 3–7-branched 3–6 cm above base, hirsute, eglandular.
petiole 3–12 cm, coarsely hispid to hispidulous with puberulent understory of gland-tipped hairs;
blade narrowly triangular or triangular-acuminate to triangular-lanceolate, unlobed or shallowly 2-lobed, (10–)12–30(–40) × (6–)8–20(–30) cm, longer than broad, base hastate-cordate to truncate, margins coarsely and widely mucronulate to denticulate, surfaces densely short-hirsute-pilose abaxially, short strigose-hirsute to hispid-hirsute adaxially, eglandular or minutely sessile-glandular.
in fruit terete, not prominently ribbed, expanded along whole length, not abruptly expanded at point of fruit attachment, relatively soft and corky-thickened.
in fruit 5-ribbed, slightly expanded or not at point of fruit attachment, hardened, woody.
hypanthium campanulate, 20–25 mm;
sepals subulate to linear, 5–20 mm;
corolla yellow to orange-yellow, campanulate, 5–7(–8) cm;
anther filaments glabrous;
ovary pubescent.
hypanthium broadly campanulate, 10–18 mm;
sepals narrowly lanceolate to linear-oblong or filiform-subulate, 10–25 mm;
corolla golden yellow, campanulate to cylindric-campanulate, 6–10 cm;
anther filaments usually sparsely short-villous with viscid-glandular hairs;
ovary hirsute to short-villous.
whitish to gray or pale brown, suborbiculate to broadly elliptic or obovate, 12–22(–32) mm, margins raised-thickened or not, sometimes slightly darkened, surfaces smooth or slightly rough.
tan to cream or yellowish, oblong-ovate to ovate-elliptic, 9–13 mm, margins thickened-raised, surface smooth.
green to gray-green with cream stripes or mottling, golden yellow to orange, dark purplish green or bluish, blackish purple, or white to grayish, globose to depressed-globose to ovoid or obovoid, oblong-cylindric, or flattened-cylindric, 10–40 cm, smooth, flesh yellow to orange, not bitter.
green with white stripes, white-mottled, evenly yellowish to orange-yellow at full maturity, depressed-globose to globose or oblong-globose, 5–10 cm, smooth.
= 40.
= 40, 42.
Cucurbita maxima
Cucurbita foetidissima
Cucurbita andreana Naudin, a wild species native to Argentina and Bolivia, hybridizes readily with C. maxima and is its ancestor (O. I. Sanjur et al. 2002); it sometimes is recognized as C. maxima subsp. andreana (Naudin) Filov.
Some fruits of Cucurbita maxima have a high sugar content and are used for making pies, and they are popular as a soup, especially in Brazil and Africa.
All of the giant pumpkins in weigh-off contests are derived from Cucurbita maxima, as are some of the Halloween pumpkins. In 1904, the largest pumpkin was 403 pounds, and winners increased relatively little to 459 pounds in 1980. A rapid increase in size began in 1981, with the champion at 493.5 pounds; from this individual’s lineage came seeds for the Atlantic Giant cultivar, which has contributed since to winners burgeoning in size. The first giant pumpkin over 1000 pounds (1061 pounds) was grown in 1996; by 2009 the winner was 1725 pounds and in 2010, 1810 pounds.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Records of Cucurbita foetidissima in localities east of Missouri apparently represent adventives outside of the native range. The single known locality in Florida (Marion County) was where hay from the Midwest was thrown.
Cucurbita foetidissima has been studied as a source of root starch and seed oil and is a potentially productive crop adapted to arid and semiarid regions. The tuberous roots of an individual average 50 kilograms in weight in three to four growing seasons (J. S. DeVeaux and E. B. Shultz 1985).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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