Cucurbita
History

The genus was part of the culture of almost every native peoples group from southern South America to southern Canada. Modern-day cultivated Cucurbita are not found in the wild. Genetic studies of the mitochondrial gene nad1 show there were at least six independent domestication events of Cucurbita separating domestic species from their wild ancestors. Species native to North America include C. digitata (calabazilla), and C. foetidissima (buffalo gourd), C. palmata (coyote melon), and C. pepo. Some species, such as C. digitata and C. ficifolia, are referred to as gourds. Gourds, also called bottle-gourds, which are used as utensils or vessels, belong to the genus Lagenaria and are native to Africa. Lagenaria are in the same family and subfamily as Cucurbita but in a different tribe.

The earliest known evidence of the domestication of Cucurbita dates back at least 8,000 years ago, predating the domestication of other crops such as maize and beans in the region by about 4,000 years. This evidence was found in the Guilá Naquitz cave in Oaxaca, Mexico, during a series of excavations in the 1960s and 1970s, possibly beginning in 1959. Solid evidence of domesticated C. pepo was found in the Guilá Naquitz cave in the form of increasing rind thickness and larger peduncles in the newer stratification layers of the cave. By c. 8,000 years BP the C. pepo peduncles found are consistently more than 10 millimeters (3 ⁄ 8 in) thick. Wild Cucurbita peduncles are always below this 10 mm barrier. Changes in fruit shape and color indicate that intentional breeding of C. pepo had occurred by no later than 8,000 years BP. During the same time frame, average rind thickness increased from 0.84–1.15 millimeters (1 ⁄ 32 – 3 ⁄ 64 in). Recent genomic studies suggest that Cucurbita argyrosperma was domesticated in Mexico, in the region that is currently known as the state of Jalisco.

Squash was domesticated first, followed by maize and then beans, becoming part of the Three Sisters agricultural system of companion planting. The English word "squash" derives from askutasquash (a green thing eaten raw), a word from the Narragansett language, which was documented by Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, in his 1643 publication A Key Into the Language of America. Similar words for squash exist in related languages of the Algonquian family.
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