Cucurbita maxima

Subspecies andreana

As of October 2024^[update], Cucurbita andreana is accepted as a separate species by some sources, and a subspecies of C. maxima by others. It was first formally described by Charles Victor Naudin in 1896, in Revue Horticole. It is native to Argentina and Uruguay and is the ancestor of the domesticated forms. C. andreana fruits are smaller and not palatable. It hybridizes readily with individuals of other C. maxima subspecies.

C. maxima subsp. andreana has notably different calcium levels than individuals of other C. maxima subspecies. C. andreana has yellow flowers and bright green striped fruit. Extrafloral nectaries are present in C. maxima but not necessarily in C. andreana.

Cultivars

• Arikara squash weighs from four to eleven pounds with a teardrop or round shape with a mottled orange and green color pattern. It is used both for its eating qualities and as decoration. This variety traces its ancestry to the Arikara tribe of the Dakotas, among whom its cultivation predates white settlement.^{[citation needed]}
• Banana squash has an elongated shape, with light blue, pink, or orange skin and bright orange flesh.
• Boston marrow is sweet, narrow at one end, and bulbous at the other.
• Buttercup squash has a turban shape (a flattish top) and dark green skin, weighs three to five pounds, and features dense, yellow-orange flesh. Not to be confused with butternut squash.
• Candy roaster squash is a landrace developed by the Cherokee people in the southern Appalachians. A United States Department of Agriculture accession in 1960 notes that Candy Roasters had been grown for more than 100 years as of that date. It is variable in size and shape with more than 40 distinct forms according to one authority. Candy roasters consistently feature fine-textured orange flesh, while varying in size (from 5 kg (10 lb) to more than 113 kg (250 lb); shape (including round, cylindrical, teardrop, and blocky); and color (pink, tan, green, blue, gray, and orange). An article in the 1925 Charlotte Observer newspaper of Charlotte, North Carolina provides an account of two candy roaster varieties at a Cherokee fair that were both of similar shape and size to a Catawba watermelon, one being colored like a citron melon and the other "pumpkin color".
• Hubbard squash usually has a tear-drop shape and is often used as a replacement for pumpkins in cooking. According to one source, the name comes from Bela Hubbard, settler of Randolph Township, Ohio, in the Connecticut Western Reserve. Other sources conclude that this variety came to Marblehead, Massachusetts via Captain Knott Martin where Elizabeth Hubbard brought it to the attention of her neighbor, a seed trader named James J. H. Gregory. Gregory subsequently introduced it to the market using Hubbard as the eponym. Gregory later bred and released the Blue Hubbard, a variety with bluish-gray skin. Another variety, the Golden Hubbard, has a bright orange skin. Gregory advertisements for Hubbard squash had begun by 1859. The Hubbard squash, including questions regarding the name, is the subject of a children's ditty, "Raising Hubbard Squash in Vermont".
• Jarrahdale pumpkin is a pumpkin with gray skin that is nearly identical to Queensland Blue (though has more water content when roasted) and Sweet Meat varieties.
• JAP (or Kent) Pumpkin is the most common "pumpkin" eaten in Australia (known in other countries as a winter squash) it has a mottled/stripy dark green and cream skin. The flesh is a bright orange and the vines have been known to grow up to 15 fruit on them of at least 2 kg (4 lb) each. Known to grow in a wide variety of climates, it is favoured by backyard growers. Is as its best when roasted, the skin, flesh, and seeds are all edible.
• Kabocha is a Japanese variety with dark green skin and bright golden-orange flesh.
• Lakota squash is an American variety.
• Nanticoke squash was grown by the Nanticoke people of Delaware and Eastern Maryland. It is one of only a few surviving Native American winter squashes from the Eastern woodlands.
• Turban squash, also known as "French turban", predates 1820 and is closely related to the buttercup squash.