Appearance

Growth form

Plants are usually 1–2.5 ft (30–76 cm) tall and 2–3 ft (61–91 cm) wide.

Leaves

Leaves have 3–5 deep lobes, and the leaf stalks are prickly.

Flowers

Big yellow flowers; each plant has separate male and female flowers. The blossoms are often fried and eaten.

Fruit

Fruit shape varies hugely by cultivar group. The fruit stalk has 5–6 sharp angles and grooves and flares out where it meets the fruit.

Look-alikes

Butternut squashCucurbita moschata

Its leaves are barely lobed, often with white patches, and the leaf stalks aren't prickly. Its fruit stalk is angled and flares at the tip but has no deep grooves.

Why they get mixed up · Both are grown as winter squash and pumpkins.

Hubbard squashCucurbita maxima

The fruit stalk is round, soft, and spongy, without grooves or a flared tip. Leaves are only shallowly lobed and the stalks aren't prickly.

Why they get mixed up · Big round pumpkins come from this species too.

	Leaves	Leaf stalk	Fruit stalk
Zucchini, pumpkin	Deeply lobed	Prickly	Angled, grooved, flared
Butternut squash	Barely lobed, white patches	Not prickly	Angled, flared
Hubbard squash	Shallowly lobed	Not prickly	Round, spongy, no grooves

Where it lives

Typical habitats

• Vegetable gardens
• Farm fields
• Sandy riverbeds (wild Texas gourd)

Range

Grown across the US and worldwide. Wild Texas gourds grow mainly in southeastern Texas, and other wild populations occur in the Mississippi Valley and the Ozark Plateau.

Connected species

Ties with other wildlife

Caterpillars of the squash vine borer, pickleworm, and melonworm moth feed on the plants.

Pollinators

Squash bees, which collect only squash pollen and forage early in the morning before honey bees are active, are its main pollinators in the Americas.

Pollinators

• Hoary squash beeEucera pruinosa

  A squash specialist whose males, flying soon after sunrise, are effective pollinators of summer squash.

Close relatives

• Pattypan squashCucurbita melopepo

  The scalloped, saucer-shaped squash—sometimes lumped into this species, sometimes kept separate.

Name and classification

About the name

Botanists recognize wild and cultivated subspecies, including the wild Texas gourd. Pattypan (scallop) squash is usually treated as a cultivar group of this species, though some classifications list it separately as Cucurbita melopepo.

Varieties and forms

Major cultivar groups include zucchini, cocozelle, crookneck, straightneck, pattypan (scallop), acorn, pumpkin, and vegetable marrow (which includes spaghetti squash), plus ornamental gourds.

Conservation

IUCN Red List

LCLeast Concern·Low risk of extinction