Pumpkin

You know one when you see one, but what exactly is a pumpkin? You might be surprised to know that there is no botanic or scientific definition. The terms “pumpkin” and “squash” are both used for more than one species in the genus Cucurbita, which also includes ornamental gourds! While gourds aren’t typically edible, both pumpkins and squashes bear edible fruits. In general—although there are many exceptions—pumpkins are round, and squashes aren’t. Pumpkins often have yellow or orange flesh, although many squashes do, too. According to the USDA, the designation “pumpkin” can refer to any “golden-fleshed, sweet squash, or mixtures of such squash and field pumpkin.” Pumpkins include varieties of four species: C. pepo, C. moschata, C. maxima, and C. argyrosperma.

Is it spooky? If hearing the word “pumpkin” makes you think of a jack-o’-lantern, you’re picturing a variety of C. pepo, sometimes called a “field pumpkin.” With bright orange skin and a hard, woody, stem, popular pepo cultivars include ‘Connecticut Field,’ ‘New England Sugar Pie,’ ‘Howden,’ and ‘Spookie,’ as well as most mini pumpkins. While pepo pumpkins are kings of the pumpkin patches kids visit in October, the truth is that they are mostly grown for their looks; the other three pumpkin species have denser flesh and are better tasting. Just to be clear, though, not all C. pepo varieties are pumpkins! This species includes a assortment of yummy squashes, such as zucchini (courgette), acorn, spaghetti, crookneck, and delicata, as well as decorative gourds.

Ready for pie? The tan-skinned ‘Buckskin’ and ‘Kentucky Field’ pumpkins are varieties of C. moschata, as is the ‘Seminole,’ an heirloom variety originally cultivated by Creek Indian tribes in Florida. But the most widely tasted moschata might be the one you most often find in a can of pumpkin or pumpkin pie filling: a variety called ‘Dickinson.’ The cheese pumpkins—named for their resemblance to a wheel of cheese—are varieties of C. moschata, too. Non-pumpkin moschata squashes include butternut and Canada crookneck.

If you want to grow the world’s largest pumpkin, be sure to sow seeds of a giant C. maxima. (There are several varieties.) Blue pumpkins like ‘Jarrahdale,’ ‘Queensland Blue,’ and ‘Blue Moon’; and white pumpkins like ‘Lumina’ and ‘Snowball’ are maxima pumpkins, too, as is the curvy, squat, dark-orange cultivar ‘Rouge Vif d'Estampes’—also known as the Cinderella pumpkin. While some of these cultivars were developed in places like Australia or France, they all originated from New World species. Non-pumpkin maxima squashes include hubbard, banana, buttercup, kabocha, and turban squash.

You say squash—I say pumpkin. It might not look like a pumpkin on the outside, but C. argyrosperma is known —at least to some people—as the cushaw pumpkin. Others call it cushaw squash. Most of us have probably never heard of it at all, because it is far less common than other pumpkins, but that’s our loss. In the South, some Cajun, Creole, and Appalachian cooks claim it makes the best pie. Spiced, sweetened, and cooked, cushaw pumpkin is historically known as “juirdmon.” Cultivars include ‘Tennessee Sweet Potato,’ ‘Japanese Pie,’ and ‘Green-striped Cushaw.’

Pumpkins need pollinators! America’s most important native pumpkin pollinators are squash bees Peponapis and Xenoglossa. Squash bees nest in soil at the base of host plants, not in hives. Some other native bees pollinate pumpkins, too, as do (non-native) honeybees.