Editing Cucurbita (section)

== Cultivation ==

=== History ===
[[File:Bnf Anne f161.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Early 1500s painting of squash plants and fruits|''[[Cucurbita pepo]]'' subsp. ''texana'', from the [[Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany]], 1503–1508, f. 161, earliest depiction of cucurbits in Europe]]
The genus was part of the culture of almost every native peoples group from southern South America to southern Canada.<ref name="smith2006" /> Modern-day cultivated ''Cucurbita'' are not found in the wild.<ref name="nee" /> 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.<ref name="sanjur">{{cite journal | last1 = Sanjur | first1 = Oris I. | last2 = Piperno | first2 = Dolores R. | last3 = Andres  | first3 = Thomas C.  | last4 = Wessel-Beaver | first4 = Linda | year = 2002 | title = Phylogenetic Relationships among Domesticated and Wild Species of ''Cucurbita'' (Cucurbitaceae) Inferred from a Mitochondrial Gene: Implications for Crop Plant Evolution and Areas of Origin | journal = [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] | volume = 99 | issue = 1 | pages = 535–540 | publisher = National Academy of Sciences | location = Washington, DC | jstor = 3057572 | doi=10.1073/pnas.012577299 | bibcode=2002PNAS...99..535S | pmid=11782554 | pmc=117595| doi-access = free }}</ref> Species native to North America include ''[[Cucurbita digitata|C.&nbsp;digitata]]'' (calabazilla),<ref name="doafingergourd">{{cite web |title=Cucurbita digitata A. Gray |url=http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=CUDI |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=September 1, 2013 |archive-date=September 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061119/http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=CUDI |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''C.&nbsp;foetidissima'' (buffalo gourd),<ref name="doafiggourd">{{cite web |title=''Cucurbita ficifolia'' Bouché |url=http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=CUFI2 |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=September 1, 2013 |archive-date=September 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054527/http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=CUFI2 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Cucurbita palmata|C.&nbsp;palmata]]'' (coyote melon), and ''C.&nbsp;pepo''.<ref name="nee" /> Some species, such as ''C.&nbsp;digitata'' and ''C.&nbsp;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 (biology)|tribe]].<ref name="roberts">{{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Katherine M. |title=''Cucurbita'' spp. and ''Lagenaria siceraria'' (Molina) – Standley Squash, Gourd, and Pumpkin; Bottle Gourd: Cucurbitaceae |url=http://pages.wustl.edu/peblabguide/articles/1120 |publisher=Washington University in St. Louis |date=March 27, 2012 |access-date=December 31, 2014 |archive-date=February 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215151044/http://pages.wustl.edu/peblabguide/articles/1120 |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 [[bean]]s in the region by about 4,000 years.<ref name="nee" /><ref name="tamu" /><ref name = "gibbonames238">{{cite book|last1=Gibbon|first1=Guy E.|last2=Ames|first2=Kenneth M.|title=Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=1998|page=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofpre0000unse/page/238 238]|isbn=978-0-8153-0725-9|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofpre0000unse/page/238}}</ref><ref name="roush">{{cite journal |last=Roush |first=Wade |url=https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.276.5314.894 |title=Archaeobiology: Squash Seeds Yield New View of Early American Farming |journal=Science |date=9 May 1997 |volume=276 |issue=5314 |pages=894–895 |publisher=American Association For the Advancement of Science |doi=10.1126/science.276.5314.894|s2cid=158673509 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="schoenwetter">{{cite journal | last1 = Schoenwetter | first1 = James | date=April 1974 | title = Pollen Records of Guila Naquitz Cave | journal = [[American Antiquity]] | volume = 39 | issue = 2 | pages = 292–303 | publisher = Society for American Archaeology  | jstor = 279589 | doi = 10.2307/279589| s2cid = 163744556 }}</ref><ref name="benz">{{cite journal |last=Benz |first=Bruce F. |title= Archaeological Evidence of Teosinte Domestication From Guilá Naquitz, Oaxaca |year=2005 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=2104–2106 |doi=10.1073/pnas.98.4.2104 |pmid=11172083 |pmc=29389|bibcode=2001PNAS...98.2104B |doi-access=free }}</ref> Solid evidence of domesticated ''C.&nbsp;pepo'' was found in the Guilá Naquitz cave in the form of increasing [[Peel (fruit)|rind]] thickness and larger [[Peduncle (botany)|peduncles]] in the newer [[Stratigraphy (archaeology)|stratification layers]] of the cave. By c.&nbsp;8,000 years [[Before Present|BP]] the ''C.&nbsp;pepo'' peduncles found are consistently more than {{convert|10|mm|in|frac=16|sp=us}} thick. Wild ''Cucurbita'' peduncles are always below this 10&nbsp;mm barrier. Changes in fruit shape and color indicate that intentional breeding of ''C.&nbsp;pepo'' had occurred by no later than 8,000 years BP.<ref name="ucla">{{cite web|url=http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Cucurbita/ |title=Cucurbitaceae – Fruits for Peons, Pilgrims, and Pharaohs |publisher=University of California at Los Angeles |access-date=September 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016003715/http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Cucurbita/ |archive-date=October 16, 2013 }}</ref><ref name="smith1989">{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Bruce D. |date=22 December 1989 |title=Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America |url=https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.246.4937.1566 |journal=Science |location=Washington, DC |pages=1566–1571 |doi=10.1126/science.246.4937.1566 |pmid=17834420 |volume=246 |issue=4937 |bibcode=1989Sci...246.1566S |s2cid=42832687 |access-date=30 June 2022 |archive-date=14 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114192812/https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.246.4937.1566 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="smith">{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Bruce D. |date=May 1997 |title=The Initial Domestication of ''Cucurbita pepo'' in the Americas 10,000 Years Ago |url=https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.276.5314.932 |journal=Science |location=Washington, DC |doi=10.1126/science.276.5314.932 |volume=276 |issue=5314 |pages=932–934 |access-date=2022-06-30 |archive-date=2023-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413083242/https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.276.5314.932 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the same time frame, average rind thickness increased from {{convert|0.84|-|1.15|mm|in|frac=128|sp=us}}.<ref name="feinman">{{cite book |last1=Feinman |first1=Gary M. |last2=Manzanilla |first2=Linda |title=Cultural Evolution: Contemporary Viewpoints |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d4DEPVVoqE8C&pg=PA31 |year=2000 |publisher=Kluwer Academic |location=New York |page=31 |isbn=978-0-306-46240-5}}</ref> Recent genomic studies suggest that ''[[Cucurbita argyrosperma]]'' was domesticated in Mexico, in the region that is currently known as the state of [[Jalisco]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barrera-Redondo |first1=Josué |last2=Sánchez-de la Vega |first2=Guillermo |last3=Aguirre-Liguori |first3=Jonás A. |last4=Castellanos-Morales |first4=Gabriela |last5=Gutiérrez-Guerrero |first5=Yocelyn T. |last6=Aguirre-Dugua |first6=Xitlali |last7=Aguirre-Planter |first7=Erika |last8=Tenaillon |first8=Maud I. |last9=Lira-Saade |first9=Rafael |last10=Eguiarte |first10=Luis E. |title=The domestication of Cucurbita argyrosperma as revealed by the genome of its wild relative |journal=Horticulture Research |date=December 2021 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=109 |pmid=33931618|doi=10.1038/s41438-021-00544-9 |pmc=8087764 |bibcode=2021HorR....8..109B |issn=2662-6810 }}</ref>

Squash was domesticated first, followed by maize and then beans, becoming part of the [[Three Sisters (agriculture)|Three Sisters agricultural system]] of [[companion planting]].<ref name="landon">{{cite journal |last=Landon |first=Amanda J. |title=The "How" of the Three Sisters: The Origins of Agriculture in Mesoamerica and the Human Niche |journal=Nebraska Anthropologist |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=nebanthro |year=2008 |publisher=University of Nebraska – Lincoln |location=Lincoln, NE |pages=110–124 |access-date=2013-09-18 |archive-date=2013-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054240/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=nebanthro |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bushnell">{{cite journal |last=Bushnell |first=G. H. S. |title=The Beginning and Growth of Agriculture in Mexico |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |year=1976 |location=London |volume=275 |issue=936 |pages=117–120 |doi=10.1098/rstb.1976.0074|bibcode=1976RSPTB.275..117B |doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[English language|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]]''.<ref name="loc">{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/squash.html |title=How Did the Squash Get its Name? |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=October 10, 2013 |archive-date=October 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016123203/http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/squash.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Similar words for squash exist in related languages of the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] [[Language family|family]].<ref name="paris1989">{{cite journal | last1 = Paris | first1 = Harry S. | year = 1989 | title = Historical Records, Origins, and Development of the Edible Cultivar Groups of ''Cucurbita pepo'' (Cucurbitaceae) | journal = [[Economic Botany]] | volume = 43 | issue = 4 | pages = 423–443 | publisher =  New York Botanical Garden Press | jstor = 4255187 | doi=10.1007/bf02935916| bibcode = 1989EcBot..43..423P | s2cid = 29052282 }}</ref><ref name="CC">{{cite book |first=Charles L. |last=Cutler |title=O Brave New Words: Native American Loanwords in Current English |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman |year=2000 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/obravenewwords00char/page/39 39–42] |isbn=978-0-8061-3246-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/obravenewwords00char/page/39 }}</ref>

=== Production ===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:left; width:16em; text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan=2|Squash and gourd* production (2021)
|-
! Country
! Production<br /><small>(millions of [[tonne]]s)</small>
|-
|{{CHN}} ||7.4
|-
|{{UKR}} ||1.3
|-
|{{RUS}} ||1.2
|-
|{{USA}} ||1.1
|-
|{{TUR}} ||0.8
|-
|{{MEX}} ||0.7
|-
|{{ITA}} ||0.6
|-
|{{IDN}} ||0.5
|-
|{{EGY}} ||0.4
|-
|- bgcolor=#eeeeee class="sortbottom"
|'''World'''||'''23.4'''
|-
|colspan=2|<small>*includes pumpkins</small><br /><small>Source: [[FAOSTAT]] of the United Nations</small><ref name="faostat">{{cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC|title= Production of squash, gourds and pumpkins in 2021, Crops/Regions/World list/Production Quantity (pick lists)|year=2023|publisher=UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Corporate Statistical Database (FAOSTAT)|access-date=6 August 2023}}</ref>
|}
In 2021, world production of squashes (including gourds and pumpkins) was 23.4 million tonnes, led by China with 32% of the total (table). Ukraine, Russia, and the United States were secondary producers.