Cucurbita

Thesaurus

Noun

Cucurbita - type genus of the Cucurbitaceae genus Cucurbitadicot genus, magnoliopsid genus - genus of flowering plants having two cotyledons (embryonic leaves) in the seed which usually appear at germinationCucurbitaceae, family Cucurbitaceae, gourd family - a family of herbaceous vines (such as cucumber or melon or squash or pumpkin)autumn pumpkin, Cucurbita pepo, pumpkin, pumpkin vine - a coarse vine widely cultivated for its large pulpy round orange fruit with firm orange skin and numerous seeds; subspecies of Cucurbita pepo include the summer squashes and a few autumn squashessquash, squash vine - any of numerous annual trailing plants of the genus Cucurbita grown for their fleshy edible fruitsCucurbita pepo melopepo, summer squash, summer squash vine - any of various usually bushy plants producing fruit that is eaten while immature and before the rind or seeds hardenwinter squash, winter squash plant - any of various plants of the species Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata producing squashes that have hard rinds and mature in the fallhubbard squash, Cucurbita maxima - any of several winter squash plants producing large greyish-green football-shaped fruit with a rough warty rindCucurbita maxima turbaniformis, turban squash - squash plants bearing hard-shelled fruit shaped somewhat like a turban with a rounded central portion protruding from the end opposite the stembuttercup squash - plant bearing somewhat drum-shaped fruit having dark green rind with greyish markingsCucurbita argyrosperma, Cucurbita mixta, cushaw - plant bearing squash having globose to ovoid fruit with variously striped grey and green and white warty rindsbuffalo gourd, calabazilla, Cucurbita foetidissima, Missouri gourd, prairie gourd vine, wild pumpkin, prairie gourd - perennial vine of dry parts of central and southwestern United States and Mexico having small hard mottled green inedible fruit

Cucurbita

squash

(see also Pumpkin) Good source of beta carotene for cancer, (esp. lung cancer)You can eat the big yellow flowers from squash, zucchini and pumpkin, which look great in a salad (and taste good) but don't pick all the flowers or you will not get any squash. Remember- flowers become a fruit/ vegetable. Gourds, pumpkins, and squash are great storage foods for the winter. Squash fruit, leaves and stems can be eaten raw or steamed. The high carotene content makes them good protection against cancer, especially lung cancer, heart disease and type II diabetes. Squash juice helps prevent cell mutations and damaging effects from the sun.

Cucurbita

(pumpkins and squashes), a genus of annual and perennial plants of the family Cucurbitaceae. The stem is usually branching and running, although there are a number of bush forms. The leaves are large and downy, and the tendrils are usually branched. The flowers are declinous, large, and yellow. The fruit is a pepo of varying shape and coloration (see).

The Cucurbita, which include 13 species, are native to North and South America. The most commonly cultivated species are the winter squash (C. maxima), the field pumpkin (C. pepo), and the winter crookneck (C. moschata). They are grown on all continents, mainly between 50° N lat. and 30° S lat. In the USSR the largest areas under cucurbit cultivation are in the Northern Caucasus, the Volga Region, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Central Chernozem Region.

The winter squash has cylindrical stems and entire or slightly notched leaves. The fruits are large, reaching 40–50 kg in weight; they are usually flattened or spherical and most often white or gray. The rind is soft, and the yellow or orange interior is friable and slightly fibrous. Esculent varieties include Volzhskaia seraia 92 and Stolovaia zimniaia A-5; the highest-yielding feed varieties are Krupnoplodnaia 1 and Stofuntovaia.

The field pumpkin has diversely faceted, furrowed stems. The leaves are five-lobed, laciniate, and pointed. Both the stems and the leaves are covered with prickly spines. The fruits are usually oval-cylindrical. The smooth rind is yellow-orange, sometimes with yellow-green markings. The sweet flesh is orange or orange-red. Varieties include Altaiskaia 47, Mozoleevskaia 49, Biriuchekutskaia 27, the yellow-flowered gourd (var. ovifera), and the bush squash (var. patisson). The last two varieties are small ornamentals with irregularly shaped fruits having irregular markings and diverse coloring.

The winter crookneck is marked by stems and petioles with rounded facets. The five-lobed, slightly notched leaves are dark green with white spots. The fruits are usually pinkish brown or various shades of yellow. They are variously shaped: the pepos are elongate or, less commonly, club-shaped with a constriction. The rind is soft, and the flesh is orange, compact, and tender. Cultivated varieties include Vitaminnaia and Kashgarskaia 1644.

Cucurbit fruits contain 15–18 percent dry matter and 8–10 percent sugars. They also contain ascorbic acid, thiamine, riboflavin, nitrogenous compounds, and pectins. The seeds contain 20–40 percent oil. Esculent varieties are used in boiled, fried, or baked form; they are also used to make purees and candied rinds. The fruits are fed fresh to livestock or are ensiled with coarse feeds. One hundred kilograms contain about 12 feed units and about 1 kg of digestible protein. The seeds yield a cooking oil; they are also used in the production of preparations used medicinally as anthelminthics.

Cucurbits are thermophilic, heat tolerant, and drought resistant. They grow best in chernozems. The plants are raised in field and vegetable crop rotations and in remote fields. They are grown from seed in southern regions and from seedlings in the north. The rows are 2–3.5 m apart, and the distance between plants in a row is 1–1.5 m. Care involves thinning, loosening the soil between rows, the application of plant nutrients, sprinkling the runners with soil, and pinching off the ends. Harvesting is done before the onset of autumn frosts. The yield of fruits is 300–500 quintals per hectare (ha); with irrigation the yield reaches 1,000 quintals per ha. The yield of seeds is 80–120 kg/ha.

REFERENCES

Bakhchevodstvo. Under the general editorship of A. I. Filov. Moscow, 1959.
Bakhchevye kul’tury, vol. 3. Moscow, 1965.
Belik, V. F. Bakhchevye kul’tury. Moscow, 1975.

V. F. BELIK

Cucurbita

Cucurbita

squash

Cucurbita

REFERENCES

Cucurbita

Synonyms for Cucurbita

noun type genus of the Cucurbitaceae

Synonyms

Related Words