Curcubitaceae

CURCUBITACEAE

Genus	Species	Common name
Benincasa	hisipida	wax gourd (winter melon)
Citrullus	vulgaris	watermelon, citron
Cucumis	melo	Muskmelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, casaba, Armenian cucumber (snake melon), Asian pickling melon, pocket melon (vine pomegranate), vine peach (mango melon), rockmelon
	metuliferus	jelly melon (African horned cucumber)
	sativus	Cucumbers ( except Armenian cucumber & African horned cucumber)
Cucurbita	ficifolia	Malabar gourd (chilacayote)
	maxima	squash (vars – banana, buttercup, hubbard, turban, triamble, green chestnut, red kuri, crown)
	mixta	squash (vars – green striped cushaw, white cushaw, wild seroria squashes, silver seeded gourds)
	moschata	squash (vars - butternut, cupola, Chuck’s winter)
	pepo	squash (vars – acorn, crook neck, scallopini, small striped and warted gourds, spaghetti, zucchini, Kamokamo, gem squash)
Lagenaria	siceraria	Hard shelled gourd
sechium	edule	chayote (choko or vegetable pear)

Seed Saving Information

This family in it’s many and varied forms, has been feeding the world since the beginning of recorded history, in every country of the world, in every culture both past and present. All members rely on insects for pollination. Each plant produces both male and female flowers. All members of the curcurbitaceae family will accept pollen from all other members of the same species. The pumpkins of progeny of uncontrolled crosses will bear little or no resemblance to those of the parents. Luckily there are several species and it’s possible to grow one pumpkin from each species and get a reasonable range without them crossing. (i.e. you can grow 4 pumpkins each year, one from each of the pepo, moshata, maxima and mixta families without them crossing.) It is best to grow 6 pumpkins of each cultivar to maintain genetic variability, rather than saving seed from only one fruit or vine.

If you’re saving seed you can also hand pollinate. Hand pollination is described very well in Suzanne Ashworth’s “Seed to Seed” (available from Koanga) and it works well. Traditionally the seed is always saved from pumpkins that set after the first on each vine, and also from the middle of the pumpkin.