Cucurbita pepo L. (Zucchini)

Crop Type: Garden Crop

Breeding system: Predominantly allogamous

Cucurbita pepo L. is among the most important species of the family Cucurbitaceae. Cultivated forms of C. pepo are traditionally been divided into two subspecies: C. pepo ssp. pepo L and C. Pepo ssp. texana (Scheele) (Decker 1988); each subspecies comprises several cultivar groups: C. pepo ssp. pepo L. includes the Pumpkin group, Vegetable marrow group, Cocozelle group and Zucchini group while C. Pepo ssp. texana (Scheele) Filov (syn ssp. ovifera (L.) Decker) encompasses the acorn group, scallop group, crookneck group and straight neck group (Paris 1986).

The primary economic value of this species is based on the culinary use of its immature fruits which can be referred to as ‘summer squash’ while cultivars of the Pumpkin and Acorn groups have a widespread use as ‘winter squashes’.

This species originated in North America (Smith1997); nowadays its distribution is world-wide. Wild relatives and ancient cultigens of the species, mostly round or nearly round-fruited, can still be found in the USA, Mexico and Central America, where several variable morphotypes were selected by Native Americans in pre-Columbian times (Paris 2000).

Cucurbita pepo L. is an allogamous species.

References

• Decker DS (1988) Origin(s), evolution, and systematics of Cucurbita pepo (Cucurbitaceae). Econ Bot 42:4–15
• Paris HS (1986) A proposed subspecific classification for Cucurbita pepo. Phytologia 61:133–138
• Paris HS (2000) History of the cultivar-groups of Cucurbita pepo. In: Janick J (ed) Hort revs, vol 25. Wiley, New York, pp 71–170
• Smith BD (1997) The initial domestication of Cucurbita pepo in the Americas 10,000 years ago. Science 276:932–934

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