Squash (Cucurbita pepo squash)

Cucurbita pepo includes vegetables called summer squash and pumpkin, less frequently marrow and winter squash. C. pepo is a complex species made up of wild populations, some of which are considered to be ancestral to modern cultivated forms; cultivated forms; and feral forms. Generally “summer squashes” are the fruits of certain varieties of C. pepo , used in the immature state, while “winter squashes” are the fruits of certain varieties of several species of Cucurbita , including C. mixta , C. moschata , and C. maxima . Squash is the most important vegetable native to North America north of Mexico, and one of the major vegetables of the world. Nevertheless, the cultivated plants derived from US wild plants are very significant in the squash market, and very valuable for continued breeding of new forms of squash and pumpkin that can be expected to be important in the future.