16. Cucurbita Linn., Sp. Pl. 1010. 1753. Gen. Pl. ed. 5. 441.1754; Benth. & Hook. f., Gen. Pl. 1:828. 1867; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2:621. 1879; Cogn. in A. & C. DC., Monog. Phan. 3:542. 1881; Chakravarty, Monog. Ind. Cucurbit. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 17(1): 120. 1959. Hutch., Gen. Fl. Pl. 2: 410. 1967.
S. NAZIMUDDIN AND S. SHAHARYAR H. NAQVI
Annual or perennial herbs. Stem angular, hispid or hairy. Tendrils branched, mostly 2-4-fid. Leaves petiolate, ovate, generally 5-lobed, base cordate, hirsute or scabrescent. Flowers large, yellow, solitary; monoecious. Male flowers rarely fascicled. Calyx campanulate, lobes 5, subulate, spathulate or leafy. Corolla campanulate, shallowly 5-lobed, lobes usually recurved. Stamens 3, inserted low on the calyx tube. Filaments free, anthers linear and connate, one monothecous and two dithecous; connectives not produced. Pistillode absent. Female flowers shortly pedunculate. Ovary oblong, style simple, short, stigmas 3(5), papillose, ovules many, horizontal. Fruit fleshy, indehiscent, many-seeded. Seeds ovate or oblong, smooth, marginate or emarginate.
A genus of about 20 species, 15 are American, while 5 species are cultivated throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Represented in Pakistan by 2 cultivated species.
Doubtful Species
Cucurbita pepo Linn., Sp. Pl. 1010. 1753.
It is said to be cultivated in Pakistan and India but no authentic specimen could be seen from Indo-Pakistan subcontinent (C. Jeffrey, l.c.); distinguished by harshly setose leaves with stiff, erect lobes.
