Cucurbita maxima
Cucurbita okeechobeensis
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
okeechobee gourd
in fruit terete, not prominently ribbed, expanded along whole length, not abruptly expanded at point of fruit attachment, relatively soft and corky-thickened.
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.
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.
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.
= 40.
Cucurbita maxima
Cucurbita okeechobeensis
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 2 (1 in the flora).
Cucurbita okeechobeensis originally was common in extensive pond-apple (or custard-apple, Annona glabra) forests on the southern shore of Lake Okeechobee (J. K. Small 1922). By the time it was described in 1930, most of these forests had been destroyed. Currently C. okeechobeensis is known only in two population systems Decline and current rarity of Cucurbita okeechobeensis has resulted mostly from conversion of swamp forests to agriculture and from water-level management in Lake Okeechobee. Fluctuations in lake level are necessary as high levels facilitate dispersal, and the inundation and withdrawal create open habitats for quick growth of the seedlings. Exotic vegetation around the edges of the lake, especially Melaleuca, also is a threat.
Cucurbita okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii (L. H. Bailey) Andres & Nabhan ex T. Walters & D. S. Decker (C. martinezii L. H. Bailey) is widespread in a narrow strip of eastern Mexico (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz), often in riparian vegetation and as a weed in coffee and citrus plantations. Subspecies okeechobeensis is morphologically distinct only in its densely pubescent staminate hypanthia and pubescent pistillate ovaries. There is no sterility barrier between the two, and F1 hybrids are fertile (R. W. Robinson and J. T. Puchalski 1980). There is considerable allelic variation within subsp. martinezii (T. C. Andres and G. P. Nabhan 1988) but little or none in subsp. okeechobeensis.
R. W. Robinson and J. T. Puchalski (1980) found through isozyme analysis a single allelic difference between the Okeechobee and Martinez gourds. T. W. Walters and D. S. Decker (1991) confirmed the minor allelic difference and estimated the time of divergence as
about 450,000 years, with the conclusion that the two were appropriately treated as conspecific. A population of Cucurbita okeechobeensis was recently discovered in the Dominican Republic (B. Peguero and F. Jiménez 2005); the authors were unable to assign the plants to either subspecies and it is unclear whether the population is natural or the result of introduction within the last century (M. Nee, pers. comm.).
The closest relative of Cucurbita okeechobeensis and C. martinezii appears to be C. lundelliana L. H. Bailey (T. C. Andres and G. P. Nabhan 1988), which is geographically isolated in the Yucatán Peninsula but can form artificial hybrids with them. Cucurbita lundelliana differs in its orange corollas, less lignified exocarp, and seeds with crenulate margins.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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