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Cucurbita maxima
Also called Buttercup Squash, Winter Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumkin, Great Pumpkin, Red Gourd, Squash
Winter squash (Cucurbita maxima) is a long-vining annual grown for its large, storable fruit, including Hubbard, Buttercup and giant pumpkins. It needs a long, warm season with plenty of room to sprawl.
Cucurbita maxima, one of at least five species of cultivated squash, is one of the most diverse domesticated species. This species originated in South America from the wild subspecies Cucurbita maxima subsp. andreana over 4,000 years ago. Cucurbita maxima, known for modern varieties as Hubbard, Delicious, Marblehead, Boston Marrow, and Turks Turban, originated in northern Argentina near the Andes or in certain Andean valleys. Secondary centers of diversity include India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the southern Appalachians.
Different squash types of this species were introduced into North America as early as the 16th century. By the American Revolution, the species was in cultivation by Native American tribes throughout the present-day United States.
Since this plant requires a fair amount of hot weather for best growth, it had not become very well established in northern Europe, the British Isles, or in similar areas with short or cool summers as of 1949. A strain of the squash (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne ex Lam.) known as a pumpkin is now cultivated in the British Isles.
The ideal soil pH range for cultivation ranges from 6.0 to 6.8.
Buttercup squash, a common cultivar, can be roasted, baked, and mashed into soups, among a variety of filler uses, much like pumpkin. It is extremely popular, especially as a soup, in Brazil, Colombia, and Africa.
Japanese Pie Pumpkin · Coyote Melon · Coyote Gourd · Cucurbita cylindrata · Fingerleaf gourd · Ecuadorian Squash · Figleaf gourd · Missouri gourd · Cucurbita galeottii · Bitter Pumpkin · Marten Gourd · Jarrahdale pumpkin
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cucurbita maxima by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
