Annuals Dictionary: Cucurbita
Cucumber family
Cucurbitaceae
Kew-kur’bi-ta. Mostly annual, trailing or climbing vines, comprising perhaps 20 species, and chiefly tropical. Includes Squash, Pumpkin, and many ornamental gourds.
Description
Mostly rough-hairy vines with forked tendrils and large leaves, often lobed. Flowers yellow, large, usually more or less bell-shaped, but lobed halfway down the tube. Fruit a large berry, smooth-skinned or deeply furrowed, with wide range of forms.
How to Grow
When danger of frost is past, plant seeds outdoors, 1 ft. (30 cm) apart. Seedlings do not transplant well, but in colder regions start seeds indoors in peat pots. Apply bottom heat. To prevent fruit from rotting on the ground, provide supports. Prefers warm weather.
Cucurbita ficifolia
Malabar Gourd . A running or climbing vine, 10-12 ft. (3-3.5 m) long, grown for ornament, its fruit inedible. Leaves nearly round or kidney-shaped, 7-10 in. (18-25 cm) wide, margins wavy or lobed, more or less weakly prickle-toothed. Flowers 5-6 in. (12.5-15 cm) wide, with large spreading lobes, the tube funnel-shaped. Fruit roundish or oblong, 6-12 in. (15-30 cm) long, smooth, green with white stripes, the seeds black. E. Asia. Tender perennial grown as a tender annual.