[Sca-cooks] Period squash

[Terry Decker]

Ribbed stems.  This is one of the taxonomic features of genus Cucurbita.
IIRC, the number of ribs (5 or 7) provides a major division in the genus.
Identifying the species from a painting is more difficult and may be
impossible, but I believe the Pre-Columbian distribution of the various
species makes C. pepo the probable choice.

Gourds, melons, cucumbers, etc. have round, unribbed stems.

Lagenaria is a genus rather than a species, so the gourds would be named L.
siceraria.

Bear


>How can you tell if they are squash or melons? And if not melons, is
>there a way of telling whether they are c. pepo or c. moschata, which
>most of what we call squash are, or c. lageneria (sp?), white
>flowered gourd, which is old world, hence more likely to be in use in
>Europe that early?
>--
>David/Cariadoc
>http://www.daviddfriedman.com/