Common Name: GOURD FAMILY Habit: Annual, perennial herb; hairs often hard from calcium deposits; generally monoecious. Stem: trailing or climbing, 1--many; tendril generally 1 per node, often branched. Leaf: generally simple, alternate, generally palmate-lobed and -veined, petioled; stipules 0. Inflorescence: at nodes; staminate flowers in racemes, panicles, small clusters, (or 1); pistillate flowers generally 1. Flower: unisexual [bisexual], radial; hypanthium > ovary; calyx generally 5-lobed (or +- 0); corolla rotate to cup- or bell-shaped, generally 5-lobed; stamens 3--5 (or +- 1--3 from fusion), anthers twisted together, often > filaments; ovary +- inferior, chambers 3--5, placentas parietal, styles 1--3, stigmas generally lobed, large. Fruit: berry, drying or not, or capsule, irregularly dehiscent, often gourd- or melon-like. Seed: 1--many. Genera In Family: 100 genera, 700 species: especially tropics; some cultivated (Citrullus, watermelon; Cucumis, cucumber; Cucurbita, gourd, pumpkin, squash; Luffa, loofah; Sechium, chayote). Note: Several cultivated species included Bryonia dioica reported as waifs in California (Howell 1958 Wasmann J Biol 16:1--157), but none recently. eFlora Treatment Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Common Name: GOURD, FIELD PUMPKIN, SQUASH Habit: Annual, perennial herb, from large, fleshy, tuber-like root. Stem: glabrous to scabrous; tendril branched or not. Leaf: lanceolate to round, entire to deeply lobed. Inflorescence: flowers 1 per node, staminate, pistillate at different nodes. Flower: corolla > 2 cm wide (staminate generally < pistillate), deeply cup-shaped, yellow to orange, fused part 4--12 cm, lobes generally recurved; stigmas 3, 2-lobed. Fruit: spheric to oblong, indehiscent; rind firm, smooth to rough or grooved. Seed: many, < 20 mm, +- ovate, +- flat; margin thick or raised. Etymology: (Latin: gourd) Reference: Sanjur et al. 2002 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:535--540 Unabridged Reference: Montes-Hernandez & Eguiarte 2002 Amer J Bot 89:1156--1163; McVaugh 2001 Cucurbita In W.R. Anderson (ed), Flora Novo-Galiciana 3:510--529, Univ Michigan Herbarium, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Decker 1988 Econ Bot 42:4--15
Cucurbita foetidissima Kunth
NATIVE Habit: Herbage coarsely scabrous; tendril branched generally > 1 cm from base. Leaf: ill-smelling, 15--30 cm, generally triangular-ovate, angular, gray-green, base +- cordate or truncate, finely toothed or weakly lobed. Flower: corolla 9--12 cm, yellow. Fruit: generally 7--8 cm wide, +- spheric, green, mottled, with coarse, white stripes. Seed: 12--14 mm, white. Chromosomes: 2n=40. Ecology: Sandy, gravelly places; Elevation: < 1300 m. Bioregional Distribution: GV, CW, SW, D; Distribution Outside California: to Nebraska, Missouri, Texas, Mexico. Flowering Time: Jun--Aug Jepson eFlora Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising Reference: Sanjur et al. 2002 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:535--540 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Cucurbita digitata Next taxon: Cucurbita palmata
Botanical illustration including Cucurbita foetidissima
Citation for this treatment: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising 2012, Cucurbita foetidissima, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=21361, accessed on April 19, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 19, 2024.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
MAP LEGEND View all CCH records All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
