Cucurbits—Botany, Cultivation, and Utilization

Abstract

A great deal of documented, referenced ethnobotany and anthropology for dated sites of cultivation by pre-Columbian peoples of North America. One of the most enigmatic species is Lagenaria siceraria, the white-flowered gourd, with good archaeological evidence for cultivation in both the Old World (3400BC Egypt), Italy at the time of Pliny, Persia (there is a Sanskrit name for this gourd) and even Polynesia. Yet, in the New World, it has been recovered repeatedly from sites in Peru (3000BC to 400AD) and North America (6000BC to 1400AD). Also has chapters on nutritional composition of squashes, cucurbitacins, diseases and pests. Summer squashes produce usable fruits 7-8 weeks after planting.