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Squash
Cucurbita moschata
Cucurbita moschata is a species originating in the tropical Americas which is cultivated for edible flesh, flowers, greens, and seeds. It includes cultivars known in English as squash or pumpkin. Cultivars of C. moschata are generally more tolerant of hot, humid weather than squash of other domesticated species. C. moschata also exhibit a greater resistance to certain disease and insects, notably including to the squash vine borer. Commercially-made pumpkin pie mix is most often made from varieties of C. moschata.
From the article Cucurbita moschata on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
In human culture
All species of squashes and pumpkins are native to the Western Hemisphere, and the ancestral members of the genus Cucurbita were present in the Americas before humans. Squash are important food plants of the original people of the region, ranking next to maize and beans in many precolonial American economies. In the modern era, C. moschata has been one of the most widely cultivated Cucurbita in the tropics. Even so, it has been proposed that production statistics do not reflect its true proliferation because it is often grown on a small-scale basis for local consumption. The greatest diversity among C. moschata populations can be found in the tropical Americas, suggesting a center of origin in that region. Various areas have been proposed for the origin, with one recent candidate area in northwestern South America.
Wikipedia: “History”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the old herbals & bestiaries
Book of Herbs
Hieronymus Bock (Tragus) · 1546 · p.665
On the Names of Plants
Hieronymus Bock (Tragus) · 1552 · p.907
On the Names of Plants
Hieronymus Bock (Tragus) · 1552 · p.896
Six Groups of the History of Plants
Rembert Dodoens · 1583 · p.675
Herbarium Portatile, Oder Behendes Kräuter- und Gewächs-Buch: Darinn nicht allein 1363. so wol Einheimische als Außländndische Kräuter mit Lateinisch und Deutscher Benennung abgebildet, sondern auch die meisten, so in der Medicin gebräuchlich, kürtzlich erkläret werden
Panckow, Thomas · 1656 · p.242
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Cucurbita moschata in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 122869.