Flora of New Zealand Series

pumpkin

Annual herb, with long-running, trailing or ± scrambling stems bearing branched tendrils, finely puberulent and with scattered long hairs. Petioles long, hollow, with indumentum as on stems. Lamina variable in size and shape, to c. 30 × 30 cm (sometimes more in cultivation), sinuate or shallowly lobed, very broad-ovate, scabridulous above and on veins beneath, otherwise ± densely hairy below; margins denticulate; base broad-cuneate, situated in the deep, rather rounded sinus. ♂ fls on long, hispid peduncles. Calyx mostly 2-2.5 cm long, lobed to > 1/2 way; lobes ± subulate, densely pilose. Corolla 5-7-(8) cm long, with prominent veins, hairy on both sides, especially the veins outside; lobes ovate, acute or short-acuminate, ± apiculate. ♀ fls larger than ♂; peduncle short and stout, at fruiting becoming very thick, spongy, and corky on the outside, nearly terete, expanded along whole length. Fr. very variable in size and shape but never scalloped, always developing a fairly hard rind (although never shell-like), usually wider than long and of circular and flattened form; rind grey, dark green, orange or red, usually smooth except for grooves, sometimes rather rough; pulp yellow to orange. Seed whitish, ellipsoid; margin raised and obtuse.

N.; S.: occasional.

Central and N. South America 1940

Rubbish dumps, roadside spoil, waste places and similar habitats in and around settlements.

FL (Sep)-Nov-May.

Small colonies of pumpkins may persist for several years; the mature seeds are more likely to be dispersed in kitchen refuse than are those of C. pepo, the frs of which are usually eaten immature.

Most plants called pumpkin can be referred to one of the many cvs of C. maxima grown in N.Z. Some forms of table pumpkin were previously assigned to C. pepo and the sp. was first recorded as C. pepo in N.Z. The main types are crown, Turk's cap or turban, buttercup and Queensland blue; these are distinguished by the shape and colour of the fr. and have mostly originated in N. America. Wild plants in N.Z. may belong to any of these types but, unfortunately, the few specimens in herbaria here have almost no information on fr. characters.

The cvs of C. maxima can usually be easily distinguished from those of C. pepo by the fruiting peduncle characters mentioned above and to a lesser extent by fr. shape. A common form cultivated is the Turk's cap which has the central part of the ovary protruding at the top inside the attachment of the floral parts. As a general rule, table pumpkins, as opposed to field pumpkins, belong to C. maxima.

A fourth Cucurbita sp. is commonly cultivated, especially in warmer North Id areas, but has as yet not been reported wild. It is C. moschata Poiret, which is most commonly represented by cv. 'Butternut'; this has cylindric or cylindric-ovoid, dull orange-brown frs. C. moschata is distinguished from C. maxima and C. pepo by the softly hairy stems and lvs, and the foliaceous apical part of the calyx lobes of most cvs, from C. maxima by the ribs and prominently flared apex of the fruiting peduncles, and from C. pepo by the lvs being at most shallowly lobed.