Flora of New Zealand Series

vegetable marrow

Annual herb; stems long-running or trailing, scabrid, bearing branched tendrils, finely puberulent with more scattered long hairs. Petioles long, hollow, with indumentum as on stems. Lamina very variable in size and shape, usually variously lobed and triangular or broad-ovate, to c. 40 × 30 cm, more rarely not lobed and merely angular or undulate, ± hispid or scabrid; margin denticulate; base broad-cuneate, situated in a deep obtuse sinus. ♂ fls: peduncles to c. 30 cm long, ± hispid or scabrid; calyx 1.5-3.5 cm long, hairy, lobed to c. 1/2 way; lobes linear to subulate. Corolla 5-8 cm long, with prominent veins, hairy on both sides; lobes ovate, ± apiculate. ♀ fls: peduncle short, stout, becoming hard, corky, angular and sometimes expanded at apex at fruiting; calyx and corolla similar to ♂ but often larger. Fr. extremely variable, developing a fairly to very hard rind, smooth or knobbly, large (to > 50 cm long in cultivation), commonly cylindric to oblong and green or greenish white, occasionally globose or subglobose and orange, white, or greenish; pulp white or pale green; margin sometimes scalloped. Seed whitish, ellipsoid; margin raised, obtuse.

N.; S.

Southern North and Central America 1940

Occasional, rubbish dumps, roadside spoil, and similar habitats, especially near settlements where small colonies may persist for several years.

FL Dec-May.

The description above covers a wide range of C. pepo forms or cv. groups: vegetable marrows (including courgettes or zucchinis), field pumpkins (used for stock feed), scallop or patty pan squashes and ornamental gourds. The common vegetable marrow is the only form known definitely wild here, but others may be represented by herbarium specimens which lack frs. Allan (1940) first recorded marrows as C. ovifera. Some cvs of C. pepo have become so commonly grown that they can be expected to become wild, especially as the seed usually germinates so freely.

Some forms of C. pepo are often confused with C. maxima, and are best distinguished by the very harshly scabrid stems and lvs, the lvs usually deeply lobed, the corolla tube narrow at the base and prominently ampliate above, and the fruiting peduncle either not expanded or only expanded at the apex.