Cucurbita is a genus in the gourd

Gourd

A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...

 family Cucurbitaceae

Cucurbitaceae

The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...

 first cultivated in Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...

 and now used in many parts of the world. It includes species grown for their fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 and edible seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

s (the squashes, pumpkin

Pumpkin

A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...

s and marrows, and the chilacayote

Cucurbita ficifolia

Cucurbita ficifolia is a type of squash grown for its edible seeds, fruit, and greens. Although it is closely related to other squashes in its genus, it shows considerable biochemical difference from them and does not hybridize readily with them....

), as well as some species grown only as gourds. These gourds (and other squashes) come in many colors, including blue, orange, yellow, red, and green. They have bicollateral vascular bundles. Many North and Central American species are visited by specialist pollinators in the apid

Apidae

The Apidae are a large family of bees, comprising the common honey bees, stingless bees , carpenter bees, orchid bees, cuckoo bees, bumblebees, and various other less well-known groups...

 group Eucerini

Eucerini

The Eucerini is the most diverse tribe in the family Apidae, with over 32 genera worldwide that were previously classified as members of the family Anthophoridae. All species are solitary, though many nest in large aggregations, and it is also occasionally possible to find large "sleeping"...

, especially the genera Peponapis and Xenoglossa, and these bee

Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...

s can be very important for fruit set.

Cucurbita species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including Cabbage Moth

Cabbage Moth

Note: the Small White species of butterfly is commonly called a "cabbage moth" in North America.The Cabbage Moth is a common European moth of the family Noctuidae....

, Hypercompe indecisa

Hypercompe

Hypercompe is a genus of moths of the family Arctiidae. There are over 80 species found throughout the Americas. Several species were formerly separated in Ecpantheria which is now regarded as a junior synonym. They are typically large moths with white forewings heavily spotted with black, and...

 and Turnip Moth

Turnip Moth

The Turnip Moth is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is a common European species, but it is also found in Asia and Africa, very likely having been spread by the international trade in nursery stock...

. Cucurbitin

Cucurbitin

Cucurbitin is an amino acid and a carboxypyrrolidine that can eliminate parasitic worms. It is found in Cucurbita seeds. In 1992, a patent was filed to use the -enantiomer in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals....

 is found in Cucurbita seeds.

Several species of Cucurbita are native to North America, including Cucurbita foetidissima

Cucurbita foetidissima

Cucurbita foetidissima is a xerophytic tuberous plant found in the southwestern USA and northwestern Mexico. A member of the cucumber family, the fruit is consumed by humans and animals. The fruit is eaten cooked like a squash when very young...

 (finger-leaved gourd), Cucurbita digitata

Cucurbita digitata

Cucurbita digitata is a species of flowering plant in the squash family known by the common names fingerleaf gourd and bitter squash. This wild squash plant is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico where it is relatively uncommon. This is a hairy vining plant with sharply...

 (calabazilla), and Cucurbita palmata

Cucurbita palmata

Cucurbita palmata is a species of flowering plant in the squash family known by the common names coyote melon and coyote gourd. This squash is native to the southwestern United States and far northern Mexico, where it is most common in desert regions.It is a sprawling vine with rough, stiff-haired...

 (coyote melon). These plants produce gourds and form large, fleshy, tuber-like roots. Some species, however, are native to South America, including Cucurbita pepo

Cucurbita pepo

The species Cucurbita pepo is a cultivated plant of the genus Cucurbita. It includes varieties of squash, gourd, and pumpkin.*Acorn squash*Delicata squash*Dodi marrow, grown in South Asia*Gem squash*Heart of gold squash*Pattypan squash...

.

Food

Cucurbita species are often used as food, either for their fruit or the seeds lying within. The winter varieties have thick, inedible skins, and so store well. They are also very sweet. Summer squash, on the other hand, have a very thin skin, which can be eaten. The seeds inside can be ground into a flour or meal, roasted and eaten whole, made into pumpkinseed oil, or otherwise prepared.

See also

• Squash (plant)
• Cucumber
  Cucumber
  The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
  
  
• Pumpkin
  Pumpkin
  A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
  
  
• Zucchini
  Zucchini
  The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
  
  
• Winter squash
  Winter squash
  Winter squash is a summer-growing annual vegetable, representing several species within the genus Cucurbita. It differs from summer squash in that it is harvested and eaten in the mature fruit stage, when the seeds within have matured fully and the skin has hardened into a tough rind. At this...
  
  
• Summer Squash
  Summer Squash
  Summer squash are a subset of squashes that are harvested when immature . All summer squashes are the fruits of the species Cucurbita pepo , but they are considered vegetables in terms of culinary use...