American Origin of the Cultivated Cucurbits. I. Evidence from the Herbals. II. Survey of Old and Recent Botanical Evidence

Abstract

There are four species of Cucurbita that rank as cultivated plants (C. Pepo L.; C. moschata Poir.; C. naximaDuch.; and C. ficifoIa2 Bouche), and there is good archeological evidence that the first three were present in the Americas in preColumbian times (see Carter, '45). However, it has never been decisively demonstrated that this group may not have been common to both Old and New Worlds as seems to have been the case with the white-flowered gourd, Lagenaria sicereia (Molina) Standl. In the course of his investigation on the association of the cultivated cucurbits with the various Amerind cultures of the Southwest, the writer had occasion to examine most of the published work that concerns the origin of this group. The present report is an attempt to evaluate this evidence, and draw the indicated conclusions. With the exception of Cucurbita ficifolia, the four species with which we are concerned are annuals. All have 20 pairs of chromosomes. They rarely, if ever, produce species hybrids, except by means of artificial pollination, and then only with difficulty. Up to the present, none have been discovered in the indigenous state.