The pumpkin to dig traditionally for Halloween, but not only that. Everything you need to know about this tasty vegetable

Imagine for a moment having to organize the cousinad of the squash family. You will quickly realize the immensity of the task. Because among cucurbits, not only are the species numerous, but within each species, the shapes, colors and sizes vary incredibly over the course of the selections. To the point that the naturalist Carl von Linnaeus believed he saw there “monstrous forms” which “go beyond the order of nature”.

Other botanists have, on the contrary, recognized the astonishing plasticity of natural forms developed over millennia and within different landscapes. The pumpkin family is well placed to know this, being arguably the oldest of the domesticated species. Its original kingdom is Mexico, where the plant was already cultivated almost ten thousand years ago. Because the pumpkin likes it hot.

After the disappearance of the large animals of prehistory which ensured, via their excrement, the dispersal of seeds on the North American continent, it was the human gardener who took over. Starting from the natural ancestor, with the pretty name of cucurbita fraterna, he will develop and cultivate all the diversity of pumpkins, gourds, gourds, winter and summer squash and other zucchini.

But for this, bees and other insects must do their part to pollinate the beautiful yellow flowers (the sexes of which are separate) which appear in the axils of the large leaves. Because to have beautiful fruits, each flower must be visited at least fifteen times for complete pollination. If all goes well, from there will be born a large fleshy fruit placed on the ground. And too bad for the fairy tales. As the saying goes, “when you’re hungry, a pumpkin is better than a carriage.”