Cucurbita melopepo

Linnaeus

Sp. Pl. 2: 1010. 1753.

Illustrated
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 6. Treatment on page 54. Mentioned on page 50, 53, 55.

Plants annual; roots taproots or fibrous. Stems 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. Leaves: 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. Peduncles in fruit 5-ribbed, slightly expanded at point of fruit attachment, hardened, woody. Flowers: 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. Pepos 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. Seeds whitish to cream or tawny, narrowly to broadly elliptic to obovate, rarely orbiculate, 7–15 (–26) mm, margins raised-thickened and smooth, surface ± smooth. 2n = 40.

Distribution

V6 86-distribution-map.jpg

Ala., Ark., Calif., Ga., Ill., Ky., La., Miss., Mo., Okla., Tex., W.Va., Mexico, widely

Discussion

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.

Selected References

None.

Key

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. Cucurbita melopepo 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. Cucurbita melopepo subsp. texana
... more about "Cucurbita melopepo"
distinct +  and connate +
Guy L. Nesom +
Linnaeus +
pustulate +
cordate +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (18 cm180 mm <br />0.18 m <br />) +
17 cm170 mm <br />0.17 m <br /> (23 cm230 mm <br />0.23 m <br />) +
white-spotted +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
broadly ovate-cordate;triangular-cordate or suborbiculate +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (17 cm170 mm <br />0.17 m <br />) +
tubular +, saucer--shaped +, campanulate +  and rotate +
yellow +  and golden yellow or orange +
tubular-campanulate +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
Ala. +, Ark. +, Calif. +, Ga. +, Ill. +, Ky. +, La. +, Miss. +, Mo. +, Okla. +, Tex. +, W.Va. +, Mexico +  and widely +
furrowed +  and echinate +
dehiscent +  and indehiscent +
bristly +, smooth +, hairy +  and glabrous +
tuberculate +  and muricate +
fleshy +  and hard +
connate +  and distinct +
yellow +  and light orange or greenish or whitish +
not +  and bitter +
staminate +, from different axils than staminate +  and pistillate +
cultivated +
stipitate;peltate +
perennial +
dioecious +  and monoecious +
campanulate +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
umbellate;subumbellate +
solitary +, corymbose +, fasciculate +, racemose +  and paniculate +
petiolate +, estipulate +  and simple +
ovate-deltate;obovate or obovate-rhombic +
denticulate +  and serrate-denticulate +
raised-thickened +
not +  and differentiated +
elongate-whitened +
woody +  and hardened +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
induplicate-valvate +  and imbricate +
9 cm90 mm <br />0.09 m <br /> (12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br />) +
yellow;orange +
pubescent +  and puberulent +
broadly ovate;oblong-ovate oblongelliptic triangular triangular-ovate or lanceolate-ovate +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (9 cm90 mm <br />0.09 m <br />) +
9 cm90 mm <br />0.09 m <br /> (16 cm160 mm <br />0.16 m <br />) +
stipitate-glandular;hispidulous;hirsutulous +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (9 cm90 mm <br />0.09 m <br />) +
arillate +  and winged +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (2.6 cm26 mm <br />0.026 m <br />) +
whitish +  and cream or tawny +
orbiculate +, elliptic +  and obovate +
0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
linear +  and subulate-linear +
subulate-linear;lanceolate +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
Illustrated +
bushy +  and shrublike +
sprawling +  and prostrate +
densely puberulent;hirsutulous +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (300 cm3,000 mm <br />3 m <br />) +
hispidulous +  and hirsutulous +
Cucurbita melopepo +
Cucurbita +
species +
eglandular +  and 2-7-branched +
hirsutulous +  and pubescent +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +