Cucurbita maxima
Cucurbita melopepo
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
creeping or climbing, rooting adventitiously at nodes, sometimes bushy to shrublike in cultivated forms, to 3 m, densely puberulent to hirsutulous, with scattered, longer hairs with from strongly to weakly pustulate (many-celled) bases absent or present;
tendrils 2–7-branched 2–3 cm above base, hirsutulous to pubescent, eglandular, tendrils sometimes absent in plants with bushy habit.
petiole 4–9(–16) cm, hispidulous to hirsutulous, sometimes minutely stipitate-glandular;
blade sometimes white-spotted, broadly ovate-cordate to triangular-cordate or suborbiculate, shallowly to deeply palmately (3–)5–7-lobed, 4–15(–18) × 5–17(–23) cm, ± as broad as long, base cordate, lobes ovate-deltate to obovate or obovate-rhombic, midveins of leaf lobes not distinctly elongate-whitened, margins denticulate to serrate-denticulate, surfaces hispidulous to hirsutulous, eglandular.
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 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 campanulate, 8–12 mm;
sepals linear to subulate-linear, 8–25 mm;
corolla yellow to golden yellow or orange, tubular-campanulate, 4–10 cm;
anther filaments glabrous;
ovary pubescent.
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.
whitish to cream or tawny, narrowly to broadly elliptic to obovate, rarely orbiculate, 7–15(–26) mm, margins raised-thickened and smooth, 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.
wholly light to dark green, green with white stripes, or minutely cream- or green-speckled to slate blue, ivory, yellow, orange, or bicolored green and yellow, globose or depressed-globose to ovoid, obovoid, ellipsoid-ovoid, broadly ellipsoid, slightly pyriform, cushion-shaped, or cylindric, 4–10 cm, smooth, ribbed, or warty, flesh yellow to light orange or greenish or whitish, bitter or not.
= 40.
= 40.
Cucurbita maxima
Cucurbita melopepo
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.)
Subspecies 3 (2 in the flora).
The wild race of Cucurbita melopepo endemic to northeastern Mexico (Nuevo Léon and Tamaulipas) is subsp. fraterna (L. H. Bailey) G. L. Nesom, representing a single variety, var. fraterna (L. H. Bailey) G. L. Nesom [C. fraterna L. H. Bailey; C. pepo var. fraterna (L. H. Bailey) Filov et al.; C. pepo subsp. fraterna (L. H. Bailey) Lira, Andres & M. Nee]. These plants grow in lowlands (below 900 m) and are common as weeds in agricultural fields (R. Lira et al. 2009). Variety fraterna is indicated to have a sister relationship to the more northern elements of C. melopepo (D. S. Decker et al. 2002b).
Evidence indicates that most or all of the domesticated forms of Cucurbita melopepo (var. melopepo) are derived from var. ozarkana (see comments below). For consistency within Cucurbita and other genera where wild progenitor/domesticate pairs are identified at subspecific rank, the var. melopepo domesticates are recognized also as subsp. melopepo, coordinate with C. melopepo subsp. texana (Scheele) G. L. Nesom, which comprises the two wild varieties of the United States.
The discrete, molecularly delineated lineages within Cucurbita melopepo are not so clearly distinguished by morphological features other than mature fruit shape and size. The key below uses features provided in discussions accompanying the molecular studies. Variation in potentially diagnostic features, especially in vestiture and fruit coloration, suggests that further study is needed.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Pepos solid or striped, multiple colors, including yellow and orange, rind smooth, ribbed, or warty, flesh nonbitter (except for some ornamental gourd cultivars); seed germination within 3–15 days, depending on cultivar. | subsp. melopepo |
1. Pepos solid ivory or green-and-white-striped but usually not yellow or orange, rind smooth, flesh almost always bitter; seed germination within 1–7 days. | subsp. texana |
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