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Vascular Plants of California
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Cucurbita pepo var. pepo
CALABAZA, FIELD PUMPKIN


Higher Taxonomy
Family: CucurbitaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
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.
Genus: CucurbitaView DescriptionDichotomous Key


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 pepo L. var. pepo
NATURALIZED
Habit: Herbage scabrous; tendril branches +- from base or 0. Leaf: 20--60 cm, +- cordate, green, main veins +- white, lobes 0 or 3--5, distinct +- 1/2 to petiole, terminal 1 longest. Flower: corolla 6--9 cm, orange. Fruit: > 10 cm wide, dark green, yellow, or orange, 1--2-colored or speckled. Seed: 8--20 mm, white or brown. Chromosomes: 2n=40.
Ecology: Sandy places; Elevation: < 100 m. Bioregional Distribution: SCo (Ventura Co.); Distribution Outside California: cultivated worldwide. Flowering Time: May--Sep
Unabridged Note: Cucurbita pepo widely cultivated; Cucurbita argyrosperma Huber (cultivated squash), Cucurbita ficifolia Bouché (chilacayote), Cucurbita moschata Duchesne (chicamita), Cucurbita pepo var. medullosa Alef. (calabaza corriente) often escape cultivation but are not naturalized in California Cultivars may be derived from ancient widespread distribution of wild populations including Cucurbita pepo subsp. fraterna (L.H. Bailey) Lira et al., a native of central Mexico (Decker-Walters 2002 Syst Bot 27:19--28).
Jepson eFlora Author: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising
Reference: Sanjur et al. 2002 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:535--540
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Citation for this treatment: John M. Miller & Robert L. Schlising 2012, Cucurbita pepo var. pepo, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=57170, 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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Geographic subdivisions for Cucurbita pepo var. pepo:
SCo (Ventura Co.)
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map of distribution 1
(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).





 

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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).