Cucurbita galeottii explained

Cucurbita galeottii is a plant species of the genus Cucurbita.^{[1] [2]} It is native to Oaxaca, Mexico.^[3] It has not been domesticated.^{[4] [5]} There is very little known about this species.^[6] Nee reports that the species is a xerophyte and that Bailey only saw the species in photographs. It is only known from specimens that "lack roots, female flowers, fruits and seeds".

The species was formally described by Alfred Cogniaux in 1881, in the third volume of Alphonse and Casimir de Candolle's Monographiæ Phanerogamarum.

Cucurbita galeottii (ch'ako') is a wild form of squash with round or pear-shaped fruits similar to small bottle gourds, with a green skin and white/yellow stripes. Ch'ako is found along lowland roadsides of southern Mexico. The fruit is tough skinned and bitter, but the young greens are eaten boiled.^[7]

External links

• Original description by Cogniaux, 1881

Notes and References

1. Bailey. Liberty Hyde. Liberty Hyde Bailey . Gentes Herbarum. Ithaca, NY. 6. 267–322. 1943. Species of Cucurbita.
2. Nee . Michael . 1990 . The Domestication of Cucurbita (Cucurbitaceae) . . 44 . 3, Supplement: New Perspectives on the Origin and Evolution of New World Domesticated Plants . 56–68 . New York Botanical Gardens Press . New York . 10.1007/BF02860475 . 4255271. 40493539 .
3. Book: Dhillon. B. S.. Tyagi. R. K.. Plant Genetic Resources: Horticultural Crops. Narosa Publishing House. New Delhi. 39. 2005. 81-7319-581-1. registration.
4. Book: Smith, Bruce D.. Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America. 1992. University of Alabama Press. Tuscaloosa, AL. 72. 978-0-8173-5425-1.
5. Web site: Traynor. Patricia L.. Westwood. James H.. Ecological Effects of Pest Resistant Genes in Managed Ecosystems. Virginia Polytechnic and State University. Blacksburg, VA. 81. February 1999.
6. Saade. Rafael Lira. Mexico and IBPGR Launch Ecogeographic Study of Latin American Cucurbitaceae. 1991. 7. 1 & 2. Diversity. 54. Genetic Resources Communications Systems. Washington, DC.
7. Book: Breedlove. Dennis E.. Laughlin. Robert M.. Flowering of Man: A Tzotzil Botany of Zinacantán, Volume I . 1993 . Smithsonian Institution Press . Washington, D.C. . 10088/1370 .