Cucurbita melopepo var. melopepo

Common names: Scallop, pattypan, crookneck, straightneck, acorn, summer, or spaghetti squash
Endemic
Synonyms: Cucurbita ovifera Linnaeus C. pepo var. condensa L. H. Bailey C. pepo subsp. ovifera (Linnaeus) D. S. Decker C. pepo var. ovifera (Linnaeus) Alefeld C. subverrucosa C. verrucosa
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 6.

Plants domesticated, sometimes escaping. Pepos solid or striped, multiple colors, including yellow and orange, rind smooth, ribbed, or warty, flesh not bitter (except for some ornamental gourd cultivars). Seeds: germination within 3–15 days, depending on cultivar.


Phenology: Flowering Jun–Oct.
Habitat: Vacant lots, trash heaps, roadsides, disturbed sites
Elevation: 100–200 m

Distribution

V6 88-distribution-map.jpg

Ark., Calif., Ga., Ill., Ky., La., Miss., Mo., Tex., W.Va., and cultivated nearly worldwide

Discussion

All forms of var. melopepo are domesticated; these include most ornamental gourds (for example, Flat-striped, Striped Pear, Bicolor Spoon, Miniature Ball, Mandan, Orange Warted, Warty Hardhead) and the acorn, crookneck, straightneck, scallop, pattypan, summer, and spaghetti squashes. They are hypothesized to be derivatives of var. ozarkana (D. S. Decker et al. 1993, 2002b), as var. texana has an isozyme pattern distinct from the others (Decker et al. 1993). Wild forms of subsp. melopepo once may have been distributed as far as Florida (L. A. Newsom et al. 1993).

Some weedy-habitat populations of Cucurbita melopepo in Illinois and Kentucky may have evolved purely as cultivar escapes; these may also have experienced subsequent introgression with other, nearby, cultivated, weedy, or wild populations of var. ozarkana (D. S. Decker et al. 2002b and references therein).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
distinct +  and connate +
Guy L. Nesom +
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 +
Scallop, pattypan, crookneck, straightneck, acorn, summer, or spaghetti squash +
yellow +  and golden yellow or orange +
tubular-campanulate +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
Ark. +, Calif. +, Ga. +, Ill. +, Ky. +, La. +, Miss. +, Mo. +, Tex. +, W.Va. +  and and cultivated nearly worldwide +
100–200 m +
furrowed +  and echinate +
dehiscent +  and indehiscent +
bristly +, smooth +, hairy +  and glabrous +
tuberculate +  and muricate +
fleshy +  and hard +
connate +  and distinct +
orange +  and yellow +
not +  and bitter +
staminate +, from different axils than staminate +  and pistillate +
cultivated +
stipitate;peltate +
Vacant lots, trash heaps, roadsides, disturbed sites +
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 />) +
not bitter +
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 />) +
Flowering Jun–Oct. +
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 +
germinating +
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 />) +
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 ovifera +, C. pepo var. condensa +, C. pepo subsp. ovifera +, C. pepo var. ovifera +, C. subverrucosa +  and C. verrucosa +
Cucurbita melopepo var. melopepo +
Cucurbita melopepo subsp. melopepo +
variety +
eglandular +  and 2-7-branched +
hirsutulous +  and pubescent +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +