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Gardening
: Research
: Cucurbits
I. Virginia references to the Cucurbits:
The squash, pumpkins and gourds are rarely found in Virginia seed advertisements as they are generally obtained locally and not from the European seed sources that are supplying Virginia stores in the 18th century. American references to the Cucurbits are included in the text.
II. Discussion:
The Cucurbits (squashes, pumpkins and gourds) are members of the Cucurbitaceae, a large family of world wide distribution, primarily in tropical regions, comprising over 800 species in over 100 genera. This paper examines only two; the Lagenaria genus, native to Africa and the Cucurbita genus, native to the western hemisphere. Lagenaria siceraria, or bottle gourd is a night blooming, white flowered plant pollinated by moths while the various members of the Cucurbita genera are dawn blooming yellow flowered plants pollinated by bees. The Cucurbits (pumpkin and squash) have an ancient history among native peoples in the western hemisphere as a food plant although the earliest, prehistoric use was for the edible seed rather than the pulp, which is quite bitter in wild or newly domesticated varieties. The Cucurbits were first selected by humans for larger seeds and then for less bitter and larger fruit size (Evolution of Crop Plants, Smartt and Simmonds, 1995). In vernacular terminology pumpkin generally refers to a round fruit while squash refers to any shape but round. Pumpkin or winter squash refers to a fruit that is used in its mature state while summer pumpkin or squash refers to a fruit used in an immature stage. The first forms used for their flesh were likely round as most landrace cultivars found today are round. For this reason it is likely that the earliest domesticated cucurbits would be recognized as a type of pumpkin today. Acorn squash are the next nearest cylindrical cultivar and, like the pumpkin, is used as a mature fruit indicating that it may have been an early domesticated type. The summer squash, with a generally elongated or more elaborate shape was probably domesticated later (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001).
The Lagenaria, with its hard rind and generally inedible pulp, is used for containers. Four species of the Cucurbita genus are represented in the squashes commonly available today but only Cucurbita pepo was of significant importance in 18th century North America.
Cucurbita pepo: This was one of the first new world crops domesticated by the native population and is the most diverse of all species of Cucurbita. The earliest archeological evidence for C. pepo comes from Guila Naquitz, in Oaxaca, Mexico from 8,000 BCE and from the Ocampo caves in Tamaulipas from around 5500 BCE (Historical Geography of Crop Plants, Sauer, 1993). Datable remains have been found in eastern N. America from 2700 BCE but it is probable that it was present at a much earlier date. The ovifera form (subspecies texana) may have originated in North America or in Northern Mexico, subspecies pepo appears to originate in Mexico. C. pepo does not appear in the South American archeological record prior to European contact. (Evolution of Crop Plants, Smartt and Simmonds, 1995). The species name is from the Latin pepo meaning an enlarged fruit. Representatives of this group are the common Field Pumpkin, Acorn squash, Scalloped, or Patty Pan squash, Delicata squash, Yellow Crookneck squash, Zucchini, ornamental gourds, etc.
Cucubita argyrosperma, (formerly C. mixta): The wild progenitor evidently is C. sororia, a native to the semi-arid lowlands throughout much of Mexico and Central America (Historical Geography of Crop Plants, Sauer, 1993). Representatives of this species appear to have been domesticated in southern Mexico more than 7,000 years ago. Cultivated species from about 5200 BCE have found in Tehuacan valley of Mexica and the variety callicarpa (cushaw squash) had reached North America at least 1000 years before European contact (Evolution of Crop Plants, Smartt and Simmonds, 1995). The Striped Cushaw and Tennessee Sweet Potato squash are included in this group.
Cucurbita moschata: Prior to European contact this species was distributed from northern South America, to southern North America (Evolution of Crop Plants, Smartt and Simmonds, 1995). Earliest remains come from Huaca Prieta in the Peruvian coastal desert from 2000 BCE. Archeological evidence points to cultivation in Tamaulipas, Mexico by 1400 BCE. By the 17th century there is written evidence for C. moschata pumpkins in New England (Historical Geography of Crop Plants, Sauer, 1993). Winter, or Canada Crookneck squash, Butternut squash, Golden Cushaw, and the Cheese Pumpkin are included in this group
Cucurbita maxima: Pumpkins of this group are the world’s largest fruit. The earliest known domestication of C. maxima comes from coastal Peru in the Viru Valley from about 1800 BCE. Wild species from Argentina and Uruguay may be the progenitor. C. maxima appears to replace C. moschata and C. ficifolia in importance in pre-Incan and Incan civilization (300 BCE – 1400 CE). No evidence for C. maxima being grown north of the equator has been found prior to European contact (Evolution of Crop Plants, Smartt and Simmonds, 1995). Giant pumpkins, Buttercup squash, Banana squash, Hubbard squash and Turban squashes are found in this group.
European authors in the 18th century list three primary groups: Cucurbita pepo, which includes a wide variety of pumpkin and squash and includes not only the modern C. pepo but C. moschata, maxima and argyrosperma species as well. Cucurbita verucosa is used for all warted varieties of squash and Cucurbita melopepo (clypeiformis) is the simlin (cymling, cymbling, etc.) or scalloped squash. Cucurbits are classed with the melons and Cucumbers and are often referred to as gourds. Stephen Switzer, in The Practical kitchen gardiner (1727) lists: “The pumpion, or pumpkin, is also a larger kind of the citrul; but as it is of various colours does not keep so close to that kind” and records the “great long pumpion and great round pumpion. The second type is the c. clypei-formis, or symnel gourd and the third is the c. verrucosa, or knotty gourd.”
In addition, some authors include C. lignosus, calling it the Calabash. Calabash is also used to refer to the Lagenaria genus but in this case the flowers are identified as yellow, putting it into the Cucurbita genera and probably refers to ornamental gourds in the modern C. pepo group. Cucurbita lagenaria, in 18th century works, refers to the modern Lagenaria siceraria or bottle gourd.
Linnaeus listed four species of Cucurbita in Species Plantarum (1753), all of them falling within the current C. pepo species. This was first demonstrated by Duchesne, a French botanist who began, in 1768, to work on the classification of the Cucurbits. After six years of experimenting with cross-pollination within the four species Linneaus had listed he realized, by compatibility, that all four were related and should be a single species. Duchesne also demonstrated that two smaller groups he had in his collection were distinct species, classified as C. moschata and maxima. Maxima was named for the large fruit size; moschata for the musky flavor. He classed C. pepo as C. polymorpha in recognition of its extreme variability of types within the species (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001).
Cucurbita pepo and maxima reached Europe within 30 years after European contact. Pumpkins, acorns (winter squash) and scallops (summer squash) were being grown throughout Europe by the mid 16th century. Crooknecks did not appear in Europe until late in the 18th or early 19th century. Cushaw (C. argyrosperma) was known in the American south but remained uncommon in Europe. The cheese pumpkin (C. moschata) may have been an early introduction to Europe but was certainly present by the late 17th century (Evolution of Crop Plants, Smartt and Simmonds, 1995).
On Columbus’s first trip to the New World he writes of a village at the eastern end of present day Cuba “planted with many things of the country, as calabazas, a glorious sight.” Calabash was the European name for the bottle gourd (Lagenaria) although Columbus was almost certainly referring to a Cucurbita, likely a tropical pumpkin of C. moschata (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001).
After this time the Cucurbits were recorded by almost all of the early Spanish explorers. De Soto recorded in Florida (1539): “fields of maize, beans, and pumpkins.” Farther to the west, at Coligoa he found: “beans and pumpkins were in great plenty; both were large and better than those of Spain; the pumpkins when roasted had nearly the taste of chestnuts.” Pumpkins found in Florida were likely C. moschata but farther west would be moschata, argyrosperma and/or pepo (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001).
In Canada Cartier records the natives growing squash in 1535 and classes the cucurbits as, “gros melons, concombres and courges.” “Gros melons” refers to the pumpkin, “concombres” likely refers to a summer squash, similar to the “concombre marin” described by Henry Lyte in his 1586 translation of Dodoens A Niewe Herball. Cartier’s “courges” is less clear, a literal translation would be a gourd. Hedrick, in History of Horticulture in America (1950), identifies it as a winter crookneck. Paris, in History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo (2001) identifies it as member of C. pepo, mochata or argyrosperma. In the American southwest Hernando de Alvarado, a scout for Coronado, reported that the natives grew melons in 1540 (Food, Root, 1980). This was certainly a type of Cucurbita, likely C. pepo.
The first European depiction of Cucurbita has long been attributed to two illustrations of the pumpkin (C. pepo) found in Fuchs’ De Historia Stirpium (1542). Recent discoveries at the Villa Farnesina in Rome and in a prayer book compiled for Anne de Bretagne (1477–1514), have pushed the date back to the early years of the 16th century.
The Grandes Heures d’ Anne de Bretagne illustrated in Touraine, France between 1503 and 1508 includes an illustration of Cucurbita pepo subsp. texana (First Known Image of Cucurbita in Europe, Paris, Daunay, Pitrat and Janick, 2007). The festoons at the Villa Farnesina, painted between 1515 and 1518, include illustrations of C. pepo (common pumkin), C. maxima (show pumpkin) and, possibly, C. moschata (The Cucurbit Images of the Villa Farnesina, Janick and Paris, 2006).
In North America the Cucurbits formed a third of the “Three Sisters” (corn, beans and squash) that the colonists found the Native Americans growing. They were recognized as closely allied to the cucumbers and melons and early descriptions often refer to them as cucumbers or melons. In the first description of the area around Roanoke Island, Captains Philip Amadas and M. Arthur Barlowe describe a meeting with a tribal leader: “He sent us diverse kinds of fruits , Melons, Walnuts, Cucumbers, Gourds , Peas , and diverse roots” (The first voyage made to the coast of America, by one of the said captains, 1584). In this case both the cucumber and melon would represent varieties of squash or pumpkin.
A. The Squashes
The difference between a squash and a pumpkin is purely semantic, however, for the purposes of this paper the smaller or non-round fruited Cucurbits are called squash. This distinction serves as an easy, if somewhat inexact, division.
On Roanoke Island in 1584 – ’85 Hariot records : “Macócqwer, according to their severall formes called by us, Pompions , Mellions , and Gourdes , because they are of the like formes as those kindes in England. In Virginia such of severall formes are of one taste and very good, and do also spring from one seed. There are two sorts; one is ripe in the space of a moneth, and the other in two moneths” (A brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia, 1588).
From Hariots Macócqwer, later colonists call the squash Maycock. Maycock appears to be a general term that describes any squash other than the pumpkin. Captain John Smith records in A Map of Virginia, 1612: “In May also amongst their corne they plant Pumpeons, and a fruit like unto a muske millen, but lesse and worse, which they call Maycocks. These increase exceedingly, and ripen in the beginning of July, and continue until September.” Using the harvest dates of early July and September, the first would be a form of summer squash and the second a winter squash.
The term squash originated in New England from the native word askutasquash, meaning a fruit that is eaten green in an immature stage (Heirloom Vegetable Gardening, Weaver, 1996). William Wood records in New England Prospect (1634): “The ground, affords very good kitchin Gardens, for Turnips, Parsnips, Carrots, Radishes and Pumpions, Muskmillions, Isquoutersquashes.” C. pepo hybridizes readily and many forms of squash were being grown by the natives as explained in John Josselyn’s New England Rarities (1672): “Squashes, but more truly Squontersquashes, a kind of Mellon, or rather Gourd, for they oftentimes degenerate into Gourds; some of these are green, some yellow, some longish like a Gourd, others round like an Apple, all of them pleasant food boyled and buttered, seasoned with Spice; but the yellow squash called an Apple Squash, because like an apple, and about the bigness of a Pomewater is the best kind; they are much eaten by the Indians and the English.”
An explanation of the preparation of squash is found in A Description of the New Netherlands, written by Adriaen van der Donck in 1655: “The natives have another species of this vegetable peculiar to themselves, called by our people quaasiens, a name derived from the aborigines, as the plant was not known to us before our intercourse with them. It is a delightful fruit, as well to the eye on account of its fine variety of colours, as to the mouth for its agreeable taste. The ease with which it is cooked renders it a favorite too with the young women. They do not wait for it to ripen before making use of the fruit…they gather the squashes and immediately place them on the fire…The natives make great account of this vegetable; some of the Netherlanders too consider it quite good, but others do not esteem it very highly.”
In Virginia the Reverend John Banister records in The Natural History (ca 1690): “We plant also Cucumbers & Pompions, the common, & the Indian kind with a long narrow neck, which from them we call a Cushaw. Of Melopepones or the lesser sort of Pompions there is also great variety, all which go by the Indian name of Macocks; yet the Clypeatae are sometimes called Simnels & because these others also from the Lenten Cake of that name which some of them very much resemble. Squash or Squanter-squash is their name among the Northward Indians, & so are called in New Yorke & N. England. We boyle them whole when the apple is young, & the shell tender, & being dished with Cream, or butter they relish well with meat, be it fresh or salt. These we never eat ripe, nor the Pompion (unless it be the Indian kind) green, nor the Gourd at all.”
The simnal becomes the cymling (spelled several ways), a name that persists well into the 20th century. The term Symnels was first recorded by Beauchamp Plantagenet in A Description of New Albion (1648) while exploring the head of the Chesapeake Bay. This squash is known today as the scalloped or patty pan squash. The Lentin Cake referred to by Banister is called a Simnal Cake. Simnel cakes have been known since mediaeval times and were originally called Mothering Cakes. They are a round cake decorated with small round balls of almond paste on their outer edge. Most 18th century authors use the Latin designation of clypeatae in reference to the scalloped squash or cymling.
The scalloped squash is first illustrated in Europe in Fuch’s Vienna Codex (1562). He illustrates a yellow variety and classes it as Cucumer Paniformis, for its resemblance to a crimped baking pan. It is also known by the common name of Patisson by several 18th century European authors including Sauvages de la Croix (Methodus folorum, 1751). Patty pan is the English equivalent (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001).
The scalloped squash is called the Buckler* Squash by Gerard (The Herball, 1597): “The fourth Pompion doth very much differ from the others in form…the fruit is not long or round, but altogether broad, and in a manner flat like unto a shield or buckler; thicker in the middle, thinner in the compasse, and curled or bumped in certaine places about the edges…the which rinde is very soft, thin, and white: the meat within is meetely hard and dureable.” It is illustrated by Johnson in the 1633 edition of The Herball.
*A Buckler was a small shield gripped in the fist which was commonly used in Medieval combat as a deflection device against sword strikes. It disappeared with the adoption of the long bow as its small size made it ineffective against missiles.
The most striking difference between the cymling squash and all other types is its growth habit. Bradely writes in Dictionarium botanicum (1728): “Cucurbita Clypeiformis: The Buckler, or Simnel Gourd. There is a manifest Difference, not only in the Fruit of this Form from the rest, but in the manner growing also, for it groweth upright, with great hollow rough hairy crested Stalks, to the height of three Cubits, and runneth not along the ground Ground as the rest.” However, many authors record a tendency of the cymling squash to revert to a trailing plant if seeds are saved from the same plant for a number of years. William Hanbury records in A Complete Body of Planting and Gardening (1771): “But this property is not always retained; for by sowing the seeds constantly in the same garden, it becomes a runner, like the other species.”
Thomas Jefferson calls C. verucosa a cymling squash, opposite from the classification of all other authors. In a March 17, 1801 letter to Philip Mazzei he writes: “The seeds I sent you were of the Cymbling (Curcubita vermeosa [verucosa] & squash (cucurbita melopio) the latter grows with erect stems; the former trails on the ground altogether. The squash is the best tasted. But if you will plant the cymbling and pumpkin near together, you will produce the perfect equivalent of the squash, and I am persuaded the squash was originally so produced and that it is a hybridal plant.” In this case it is not clear if the squash is a scalloped variety however, the species he uses, “melopio,” or the melopepo of European works generally describes the scalloped squash.
The cymling is eaten at a very young stage, smaller than they are normally used today. Of the cymbling Bryant (Flora diaetetica,1799) writes: “Cultivated in North America, where the inhabitants boil the fruit, when about the size of a large Walnut.”
Banister also gives the first description of the Cushaw squash (C. argyrosperma) in Virginia in The Natural History (ca 1690). Robert Beverly, who writes The History and Present State of Virginia (1705), borrows heavily from Banister’s work and his description of the Cushaw seems to confirm that it is indeed C. argyrosperma, rather than the winter or Canada crookneck (C. moschata): “Their cushaws are a kind of pompion, of a bluish green color, streaked with white, when they are fit for use. They are larger than the pompions, and have a long narrow neck.” The striped Cushaw is generally bluish green and white while the winter, or Canada Crookneck is a solid buff color.
The most common form of winter squash in the C. pepo group is known, today, as the acorn squash. This name can be somewhat misleading in that it was originally applied as a synonym for the turban squash, a member of C. maxima (Field and Garden Vegetables of America,Burr 1865). Acorn was transferred to C. pepo after the development of ‘Table Queen’ in the 20th century. What we call acorn today was known as the turbinate squash in the 18th century. Squashes of the acorn type have a long record in Europe beginning with Fuch’s Vienna Codex (1562) that shows a top-shaped, furrowed fruit. This is a white squash rather than the familiar dark green of the modern ‘Table Queen’ (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001). Gerard’s Herball (1597) illustrates a “cornered Indian Pompion” which looks very much like an acorn. In Johnson’s edition of the Herball (1633) he adds the description of the “Virginian Macocke, or Pompion” and describes it as: “somewhat round, not extending in length, but flat like a bowle, but not so bigge as an ordinarie bowle, being seldome foure inches broad, and three inches long of a blackish greene colour when it is ripe.” This sounds very much like the familiar ‘Table Queen’ acorn. Gerard also illustrates a “Mushroome wilde Gourde” that appears very similar to ‘Sweet Dumplings’ another globular winter squash in the C. pepo group.
In this country the record is much less complete. Early authors such as Hariot (A brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia, 1588) list early and late varieties of squashes. The late varieties would be winter squashes, possibly of the acorn type. Authors such as Lawson (A New Voyage to Carolina, 1709) list all the recognizable varieties of squash: “Pompions yellow and very large, Burmillions, Cashaws, an excellent Fruit boiled, Squashes, Simnals, Horns, and Gourds,” and it may be that the variety simply referred to as “squash” represents a winter form.
In 1807 Jefferson received seed for what sounds like the familiar yellow crookneck from Timonthy Matlock, who writes: “The long crooked & warted Squash – a native of New Jersey, which the Cooper’s family have preserved and cultivated for near a century. It is our best Squash.” There are surprisingly few references to this squash in the historic record. Lawson’s description of “horns” in A New Voyage to Carolina (1709) may represent a summer crookneck as its shape resembles a horn of plenty. Cartier’s “concombres” could very well be summer crooknecks, as cucumbers of the 16th century were much more warted than modern cultivars and would more closely resemble a summer crookneck squash. Likewise Higginson’s description of “Pumpions and Cowcumbers” in New-Englands plantation (1630) could refer to a summer crookneck. In Europe the only clear depiction of a crookneck squash is found in Gesner’s Opera botanica (1706), compiled in the mid 16th century (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001).
Cucurbita verrucosa of the 18th century was distinguished solely on the presence of warts. Hanbury’s (A Complete Body of Planting and Gardening, 1771) description of the warted squash is: “Cucurbita Verrucosa. Rugged Gourds. The Difference herein consisteth only in the round Fruit, whose Shell or Bark is not smooth, as in others, but rugged, set as it were with Knobs and Warts.” The similarity of all other squashes in the C. pepo group except for the presence or absence of warts is noted by many authors. Charles Bryant writes in Flora diaetetica (1799) of the warted gourd: “the plant is in so many respects like the pepo, as hardly to be distinguished from it; but the fruit is smaller, the shell more woody, and studded with knobs or warts.”
The knotty or warted squash is not listed nearly as frequently in North America as it is in European works. John Lawson, in A New Voyage to Carolina (1709) lists“Burmillions.” In this case, the “Burmillions” (Bur Melon) likely refers to warted squash. The species name for the warted squash, verrucosa, is now archaic and all of these squashes are included in the C. pepo species.
Both the cymling (C. melopepo) and the warted (C. verucosa) came in a wide variety of shapes. The Universal Gardener and Botanist, (Mawe, 1797) lists under: “Curcurbita Melopepo or Erect Gourd or Squash…fruit, both of white and yellow colours”the following shapes:“Common broad flat, Buckler-shaped, Conical, Citron-shaped, Flat-sided, Turbinated, Hemispherical, Depresssed Star-shaped, White-striped, and Yellow-striped.” For the warted squash Mawe lists: “Cucurbita verrucosa, Warted Gourd, roundish, knobby-warted, white fruit of different forms in the varieties; and of moderate size.” The varieties listed are: “Roundish, Oblong, Flat, Bottle-shaped, Orange-shaped, Lemon, Yellow and White fruited.”
This broad array of varietal types within C. pepo in Europe is partially a result of the many forms of squash introduced from the Americas from disparate populations and grown in close proximity in European collections allowing for the development of many hybrid forms (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001).
A variety of squash that is well known in Europe but for which there is little documentation in America is what was probably an ornamental gourd of the C. pepo group. Philip Miller, in The Gardeners Dictionary (1768) classes them as: “Cucurbita Lignosus, the fruit having a hard shell; commonly called Calabash.” He also notes that they carry yellow flowers putting them in the Cucurbita rather than Lagenaria genera. Miller writes that they: “Hath a hard shell when ripe like the first, which may be dried and preserved many years; these are of very different forms and size; some shaped like a Pear, and are not bigger than a large Catherine Pear; some are as large as quart bottles, and almost of the same form; others are round and shaped like an Orange, and are of the same size and colour, but these are very variable. The Orange-shaped Gourd is the sort which is most commonly so planted for the ornament of its fruit.”
The orange, smooth skinned gourd was first illustrated in Fuch’s Vienna Codex (1562) as “Colocynthis rotunda.” In 18th century English gardens it is most commonly grown on arbors and considered solely as an ornamental. William Hanbury records in A Complete Body of Planting and Gardening, (1771): “Some are fond of them for covering of arbours…they have also been directed in their course to the tops of trees. But of all these sorts that variety called the Orange Gourd is best adapted to these purposes; for this shewing its large, Orange-coloured fruit among the branches, has the appearance, at a distance, of an Orange-tree.” Today these squashes would fall in the ornamental gourd group of C. pepo.
The winter or Canada crook-neck squash (C. moschata) was not known in pre-revolutionary Virginia and probably not in the thirteen colonies. Josseyln describes a type of squash as “longish, like a gourd” (New England Rarities 1672). This has been construed by some to refer to the Canada crookneck. In Pennsylvania, Peter Kalm (Peter Kalm’s Travels in North America, The English Version of 1770) describes a “crook-necked” pumpkin on Sept. 19, 1749. This is also a possible reference to the Canada crook-neck (C. moschata). However, Kalm always distinguishes between squash and pumpkin in his writings, squashes generally referring to the smaller summer sorts, so it is possible that he is referring to the striped Cushaw that is to this day often referred to as the pumpkin squash.
Smartt and Simmonds write in Evolution of Crop Plants (1995) that the crooknecks were used by native people farther to the west and did not appear in Europe until the late 18th or early 19th century. Sauer agrees in Historical Geography of Crop Plants (1993) writing that crooknecks were not described until the 19th century because they were cultivated farther inland. Nuttal recorded the Arikara tribe growing crooknecks at the head of the Missouri River in 1818.
While second in importance to pumpkins, squash are common fare in the American colonies. Peter Kalm records in Pennsylvania: “they” [Native Americans] “plant a great quantity of squashes, a species of pumpkin or melon, which they have always cultivated, even in the remotest ages. The Europeans settled in America got the seeds of this plant from the Indians, and at present their gardens are full of it.” William Farris, an Annapolis clock maker and silversmith, records purchasing “Simlins”21 times between 1791 and 1798, representing one of his most frequent purchases of all vegetables. Of the New World plants cultivated by the Native American’s and introduced to the European colonists the squash is of lesser importance than corn or beans but is recorded by many writers who keep garden journals in Virginia including Landon Carter (Simblins, 1778), Col. Frances Taylor (Cimbling, 1788) and Thomas Jefferson (squashes, 1793). Squashes are not noted in the garden journals of either Maj. Thomas Jones or Richard Henry Lee nor are they mentioned in Randolph’s Treatise on Gardening (1794) or in the Prentis Monthly Kalendar & Garden Book (1786) in Williamsburg.
The English, on the other hand, have little use for squash as recorded by Philip Miller in The Gardeners Dictionary (1768): “The fruit are commonly gathered when they are half grown, and boiled by the inhabitants of America to eat as a sauce with their meat; but in England they are only cultivated by way of curiosity.”
The most common squash in pre-revolutionary Virginia appears to be the cymling that is best represented today by the scalloped, bush squash of white or yellow varieties. Small round squashes with a predominately white or yellow skin such as Sweet Dumpling is certainly plausible. The Green striped Cushaw is recognized by both Banister and Beverley in Virginia as crops grown by the native population although it is not clear how commonly they are grown by the white population. The yellow crookneck and acorn squash were very likely known by the colonists in Virginia but it is difficult to ascertain how commonly they were grown.
B. Pumpkins
The term pumpkin seems to be an adaptation of the older pompion or pumpeon which is borrowed from the Latin pepones that Pliny (Natural History, ca. 72 CE) uses to describe the largest form of cucumber. Henry Lyte in A Niewe Herball (1586) gives Pepons as the English name for the pumpkin. Stephanus gives the French “pompon” as the vernacular for the melon, or pepo (Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Sturtevant, 1891). The first English use of the word pumpkin is found in John Evelyn’s translation of Jean de La Quintinie’s work, The Compleat gard’ner (1693).
Pumpkins of the C. pepo, moschata and maxima species are the most common and widely recognized varieties of the Cucurbita (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001). Mawe in The Universal Gardener and Botanist (1797) uses the term pumpkin or pompion for all types of squash other than the warted and cymling squash: “Cucurbita Pepo, Pepo or Pompion, commonly called Pumpkin…round, smooth fruit, of different forms and sizes in the varieties, some as big as a peck, are almost a half bushel measure, others considerably less, and some not bigger than an orange, ripening to a yellow, and sometimes whitish colour, etc.”
He then lists the varieties as: “Common large round-fruited yellow Pompion, Oval yellow, Oblong yellow, Whitish fruited, Stone-coloured, Flesh-coloured, Party-coloured, Marbled, Small round, Orange-shaped, Pear-shaped, turbinated, Hemispherical or semi-globular, Egg-shaped, Striped roundish, Striped egg-shaped, Striped turbinated, Striped pear-shaped Pompion.”
Pumpkins of the C. pepo group are the most common type but Cheese Pumpkins of the C. moschata group are known both in Europe and in the North American colonies and Show Pumpkins of the C. maxima group are known in Europe and likely have a small presence in North America.
The pumpkin is cited, along with the squash, by all of the early explorers to North America. Several varieties are described by Gerard in The Herball (1597) under the heading of “Of Melons, or Pompions,” and illustrates three sorts: “The great long Pompion, the great round Pompion and the great flat bottommed Pompion.” The last is classified as “Pepo maximus compressus” and may represent a Cheese Pumpkin of the C. moschata group.
Pumpkins never attain the popularity in England that they do in the colonies but they are being grown on a limited scale from an early date. Leonard Meager writes in The English Gardener (1683) under the heading: “Of the Ordering of Cucumbers: Pompions may be raised and planted as Cucumbers, either early or later, but most ordinary people do set them on dung-hils…the more they are watered…the more fruit, and fairer they will have.” The planting of pumpkins on dunghills by the common or poorer sort is repeated in nearly all gardening works after this time.
Philip Miller writes in The Gardeners Dictionary (1763): “The second sort, which is commonly known by the title of Pumpkin, is frequently cultivated by the country people in England, who plant them upon their dunghills.” Thirty years later Bryant writes in Flora diaetetica (1799) “The Common Pompion is cultivated all over England, and the country people frequently raise it upon their dunghills. The fruit are roundish, smooth, and yellow.” Pumpkins seem to be looked down on by the wealthier class. Martha Bradley writes in The British Housewife (1770): “The Pumpkin is a very ordinary Fruit, and is principally the Food of the Poor.”
The pumpkin is the most important member of the Cucurbita genera for the colonists in North American both for human as well as livestock consumption. As a contrast it is interesting that Peter Kalm observes in his journal (Peter Kalm’s Travels in North America, The English Version of 1770) on Sept. 19, 1749 concerning pumpkins: “They constitute a considerable part of the Indian food; however, the natives plant more squashes than common pumpkins.”
Adriaen Van der Donck records in A Description of the New Netherlands (1655): “The pumpkin grows with little or no cultivation, and is so sweet and dry that it is used, with the addition of vinegar and water, for stewing in the same manner as apples; and notwithstanding that it is here[the Netherlands]generally despised as a mean and unsubstantial article of food, it is there of so good a quality that our countrymen hold it in high estimation. The English, who in general think much of what gratifies the palate, use it also in pasty.” The pastry he is referring to we would likely recognize as pumpkin pie today.
John Josselyn gives us the recipe in Two Voyages to New England (1674): “But the Housewives manner is to slice them when ripe, and cut them into dice, and so fill a pot with them of two or three Gallons, and stew them upon a gentle fire a whole day, and as they sink, they fill again with fresh Pompions, not putting any liquor to them; and when it is stew'd enough, it will look like bak'd Apples; this they Dish, putting Butter to it, and a little Vinegar, (with some Spice, as Ginger, &c.) which makes it tart like an Apple.”
The universal appeal of the pumpkin in North America is recorded by Peter Kalm while traveling from Pennsylvania to Canada on Sept. 19, 1749: “Pumpkins of several kinds, oblong, round, flat or compressed, crook-necked, small, etc. are planted in all the English and French colonies. In Canada they fill the chief part of the farmers’ kitchen gardens, though the onions are a close second. Each farmer in the English plantations has a large field planted with pumpkins, and the Germans, Swedes, Dutch and other Europeans settled in their colonies plant them.”
Pumpkins are also important for feeding live stock. An April 13, 1814 letter to David Gelston, written on behalf of Thomas Jefferson, thanks him for an improved variety of pumpkin; “the pumkin being a plant of which he”[Jefferson]“endeavors every year to raise so many as to maintain all the stock on his farms from the time they come till frost, which is from 2. to 3. months. Besides feeding his workhorses, cattle and sheep on them entirely, they furnish the principal fattening for the pork, slaughtered. A more productive kind will therefore be of value.”
The pumpkin is listed in Virginia sources more frequently than is the squash. Jefferson lists both a white and black pumpkin in 1774, Philip Vickers Fithian records pumpkins in 1774, John Harrower in 1775 and Col Frances Taylor in 1788. Landon Carter first records pumpkins in 1766 and also makes and alcoholic drink called “pumperkin” from fermented pumpkins. In the February 17, 1775 edition of the Virginia Gazette Carter writes in response to an earlier article suggesting that molasses might be made from pumpkins: “Permit me, Purdie, to tell the Gentleman who hinted the making of molosses, &c. from Punckins, as they are called, that the late President Carter was always fond of a beer made from them, at least 50 years ago.” Washington is also said to have made a beer from Pumpkins.
The pumpkin is the only member of the Cucurbita for which seed is advertised for sale in the Virginia Gazette. In the September 9, 1775 and again in the February 3, 1776 editions pumpkin seed from Italy is advertised for sale by Myles Taylor at his Richmond store.
The best example of a field pumpkin resembling those known in the 18th century is probably the Connecticut Field Pumpkin.Fearing Burr writes inField and Garden Vegetables of America (1865) of the Common Yellow Field Pumpkin; “The cultivation of the Common Yellow Field Pumpkin in this country is almost coeval with its settlement.” He then observes that the “Connecticut Field Pumpkin is not unlike the Common Yellow in form, but with a softer skin or shell.”
On Nov. 27, 1790 Jefferson writes a letter to Samuel Vaghan, Jr. to describe a new type of pumpkin; “We have lately had introduced a plant of the melon species which from it’s external resemblance to the pumpkin, we have called a pumpkin, distinguishing it specifically as the potatoe-pumpkin, on account of the extreme resemblance of its taste to that of the sweet-potatoe. It is as yet but little known, is well esteemed at our tables, and particularly valued by or negroes.” This is almost certainly what is known today as the Tennessee Sweet Potato squash (C. argyrospema). It was brought to North America from Jamaica with the slave trade in the 1780’s (Heirloom Vegetable Gardening, Weaver, 1996). A recipe for potato pumpkin is included in Mary Randolph’s Virginia Housewife (1824).
The Cheese Pumpkin (C. moschata) may have been grown in 18th century Virginia. Burr records in Field and Garden Vegetables of America (1865) that “it was extensively disseminated in the Middle States at the time of the American revolution, and was introduced into certain parts of New England by the soldiers on their return from service.”
A small furrowed pumpkin illustrated by many European authors including Mattioli’s Zucche Indiane in Apologia adversus (1558) is very similar to the variety Perfect Gem. Fuch’s “Cucumis Marinus” in the Vienna Codex (1562) is very much like the Small Sugar Pumpkin. (History of the Cultivar-Groups of Cucurbita pepo, Paris, 2001).
C. Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)
There are only two species of Lagenaria, both native to the old world. Lagenaria siceraria or bottle gourd and Lagenaria sphaerica or the wild bottle gourd. The bottle gourd can be found in many shapes and sizes including the familiar birdhouse gourd, dipper gourd and basket gourd. The genus name Lagenaria comes from lagena, the Latin name for a Florence flask and the species name derives from siceraria, referring to the fruit, which is used when it is mature and dry from the Latin siccus (Food, Root, 1980).
The origin of Lagenaria siceraria is not known but it is presumably native to tropical Africa and Madagascar (Evolution of Crop Plants, Smartt and Simmonds, 1995). The first African documentation comes from Egyptian tombs dated to 3500 BC. From there it was introduced to India in prehistoric times where it has been long used for its seeds as a culinary plant and for its rind as containers. The Indian musical instrument called a Sitar was originally made from the bottle gourd.
Its introduction to the western hemisphere is, presumably, a result of fruit floating across the Atlantic Ocean and then being picked up by man. Whitaker and Carter (1954) demonstrated that gourds could float in sea water and remain viable long enough to drift across the ocean and be picked up by beach combers. That it required the intersession of man is evident in that it is not found as a coastal plant, but has to be carried inland. The earliest archeological remains have been found in the caves at Guila Naquitz, Oaxaca from 7200 BCE, at Tamaulipa from 7000 BCE and at Tehuacan in Puebla by 5000 BC. Earliest North American remains have been found at the Windover site on Atlantic coast of Florida from 5300 BCE (Historical Geography of Crop Plants, Sauer, 1993).
It is not clear if the characteristic bottle shape was already developed in the old world or if it is a new world selection. Its importance as a container to Native Americans cannot be over stated and has often been overlooked by historians who have focused more on pottery remains while gourds, as containers, may very well predate the adoption of pottery (Gourds of the Southeastern Indians, Speck, 1937)
While not as important as a container in Europe, the use has long been known as is recorded in Gerards Herball (1597): “The fruit…are not of one fashion, for oftentimes they have the forme of flagons or bottles, with a great large belly and a small necke. The Gourd (saith Pliny, 19,5) groweth into any forme or fashion that you would have it…according to the mould wherein it is put whilest it is young...They are kept for the rindes, wherein they put Turpentine, Oyle, Hony, and also serve them for pales to fetch water in.”
Bradely gives a novel use for the gourd in Dictionarium botanicum (1728) writing that some are “so large that they will cover a Man’s Head. These are called Fishermens Gourds in Italy, for they are used to catch Ducks.” Apparently they are put over the head, fashioned with two eye holes, and the wearer walks into the water and catches the unsuspecting ducks by the legs.
Various uses of gourd by Native Americans are illustrated by John White during his stay at Roanoke Island in 1585. Several illustrations show gourds used as water containers and bowls. He also illustrates their use as rattles and writes: “WHEN they have escaped any great danger by sea or lande, or be returned from the warr in token of Joye they mayk a great fyer abowt which the men, and woemen sitt together, holdinge a certaine fruite in their hands like unto a rownde pompion or a gourde, which after they have taken out the fruits, and the seedes, then fill with small stons or certayne bigg kernells to make the more noise, and fasten that uppon a sticke, and singinge after their manner, they make merri” (The True Pictures and Fashions of the People in that Part of America Now Called Virginia 1585 & 1588).
Issac Weld records the same ceremonial use in Canada (Travels through the States of North America, 1797): “Of Indian dances in Canada: the two others marked time equally with the drum, with kettles formed or dried squashes or gourds filled with pease.”
The gourds use as a water container is its most valuable function and it acts the same way as unglazed pottery in cooling the water. When placed in the shade and exposed to a breeze, water sweats through the porous walls and the process of evaporation markedly lowers the temperature of the liquid. Adriaen van der Donck writes in A Description of the New Netherlands (1655): “Calabashes or gourds also grow there; they are half as long as the pumpkin, but have within very little pulp, and are sought chiefly on account of the shell, which is hard and durable, and is used to hold seeds, spices, etc. It is the common water-pail of the natives, and I have seen one so large this it would contain more than half a bushel.”
There are, of course, many other uses for gourds. They are used as utensils, floats for people as well as fishing nets, masks, whistles, water bailers and salt and seed containers (Gourds of the Southeastern Indians, Speck, 1937). Giacomo Castelvetro also records the use of gourds as a floatation device in The Fruits, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy (1614): “Their popular name is ‘marine pumpkins’, perhaps because they are used by inexperienced swimmers, scared of drowning, who strap a whole dried gourd under their chest, to keep from sinking into the sea. Small children learn to swim in the rivers with them.”
John Lawson records a familiar use in History of Carolina (1714): “the planters put gourds on standing holes” [poles] “on purpose for these fowl to build in, because they are a very warlike bird and beat the crows from the plantations.” He is, of course, talking about purple martins and the bird house gourds are used to this day to house these birds. Another use of the gourd is recorded by Kalm in 1748: “They are particularly fit for holding seeds which are to be sent over sea; for seeds keep their power of vegetating much longer if they be put in calabashes than by any other means.”
While the Europeans certainly had occasional uses for the gourd, they were never of the same importance to English material culture as they were for the Native Americans. There are few references to the Virginian colonists growing gourds but they are certainly well known. John Randolph records in the Treatise on Gardening (1793) the often cited (and erroneous) caution that gourds planted near melons will ruin the flavor of the melon. The fact that such a caution is necessary implies that gourds were grown to some extent. John Custis of Williamsburg complains in a 1726 letter to his London agent, Robert Cary, about a shipment of leather flasks writing: “they are of no use to me any more than A Common gourd.” It is probably safe to say that the American use of the gourd is much the same as that recorded by Philip Miller in The Gardeners Dictionary (1763) in that the gourd is “sometimes propagated in English gardens by way of curiosity.”
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Historic Triangle