Cucurbita moschata

Butternut Squash (Cucurbita moschata)

The Butternut Squash (Cucurbita moschata) is a cultivated plant of the gourd family ( Cucurbitaceae ), which is native to America, but is now cultivated in warm regions worldwide. A subset of the butternut squash is butternut squash.

Features

The Butternut Squash is an annual herbaceous plant that grows crawling or climbing, reaching a length of up to 6 meters. The whole plant is easy to densely hairy. The shoot axes are slightly edgy. The leaf stalks are 30 inches or longer. The leaf blade is ( 20-25 ) x ( 25-30 ) cm tall, broad - oval heart-shaped dots to almost circular and white. It is easy lobed with three or five oval to triangular lobes. The leaf margin incised -serrate.

Flowers

The Butternut Squash is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). The flowers appear singly in leaf axils. The male flowers have a 16 to 18 cm long peduncle, a very short cup and a wide bell - to cup-shaped. The crown is five to 13.5 inches long, the corolla lobes to take a third of Kronlänge to one.

The female flowers have a thick, three to eight inches long flower stalk. The ovary is spherical, ovoid, cylindrical, pear or cone. The calyx is very small. Your pen carries three lobular scars.

Fruits

The fruits are very variable in form and color tanks berries, the mold usually corresponds to the ovary. The surface is covered with smooth or ribbed, rarely tuberculate or granular. The color is light to dark green, solid green or with cream-colored spots or completely white. The bark is thick, soft and durable. The flesh is pale to bright orange to greenish. The taste is mild to very sweet, the meat is soft and generally not fibrous. The numerous seeds are oval to elliptical, ( 8-21 ) x ( 5-11 ) mm in size and have a yellowish- white surface.

Distinguish it from other pumpkins

From other cultivars of pumpkins, the Butternut Squash leaves differ in that the fruit stalk is tough, has rounded edges and greatly expanded on fruit set. The shoot axis is grooved hard and smooth. The leaves are nearly round to slightly lobed and soft. The seeds are white to brown, the surface smooth to slightly rough, the edge is clearly the most jagged and dark.

Dissemination

The species is known only in cultivation, wild or parent forms are unknown. The Butternut Squash was cultivated in pre-Columbian Central and South America and the southeastern United States, after which he was introduced to most tropical countries.

System

North American varieties are classified into three groups:

• Cheese: Your fruit is variable, but usually flattened and with yellow-brown bark.
• Crookneck: The fruit is rounded at the blossom end and has a long, straight or curved neck.
• Bell: The fruit is bell-shaped cylindrical to almost.

This grouping can not be applied for the varieties in tropical America and Asia. Colombian landraces often have small fruit with dark seeds. Japanese varieties, such as, chirimen 'and' Kikuza ', often warty and ridged fruit.

A commonly grown variety is Butternut ', which is used as winter squash. An old, popular in the U.S. especially in the 19th century variety is, Cheese ', which was especially appreciated for canned food and as animal feed.

Cultivation

The Butternut Squash is mainly cultivated in lower altitudes with hot, humid climate and is the most widely grown in the tropics Pumpkin Art. In Oaxaca, Mexico, some varieties are also grown in over 2200 m above sea level. The traditional cultivation is often done along with corn, beans and other pumpkins. Other methods of cultivation are in vegetable gardens. The Butternut Squash is also grown alone in intensive agriculture.

Sowing takes place at the beginning of the rainy season, the development takes five to seven months. Some varieties, especially in Yucatan, only need three to four months. In Oaxaca, he is also grown in the cool, dry season.

In India, the Butternut Squash is grown widely, even in the dry Punjab. There are a large number of landraces. Breeding efforts are particularly towards early maturity, high carotene content and high ratio of female to male flowers.

Use

In its original area, the flowers, young shoots, the young and the mature fruits are used as vegetables. Ripe fruits are also often processed into candies or used as animal feed. The seeds are eaten roasted or ground processed as a whole in stews. They have a high oil and protein content.

History

The Butternut Squash was domesticated in Latin America, the exact area is unknown. Discussed are Central America and Colombia. In both areas there are native name for the pumpkin, which speaks for the independent domestication. The oldest archaeological finds come from Northeast Mexico ( caves of Ocampo, Tamaulipas ) and date from the period 4900-3500 BC Further evidence comes from Tikal (2000 prior to 850 AD) and Huaca Prieta in Peru (3000 BC). The Butternut Squash has been used in pre-Columbian time, so there are in Florida an old country race called, Seminole Pumpkin ' from this time. In the 19th century the cultivation in India, Java, Angola and Japan is occupied.