Plant of the Week
Pumpkin!
Halloween falls on 31st October, so what could be more suitable for this week than pumpkin!
Pumpkins (Genus: Cucurbita; Family: Cucurbitaceae) are native to North America and most of the
modern cultivars come from four species: C. mixta, C. pepo, C. maxima and C. moschata.. The rounded pumpkins
are usually cultivars of Cucurbita mixta and C. pepo Butternut pumpkins or butternut squash are cultivars of
C. moschata and those now popularly grown for giant pumpkin competitions have been developed from C.
maxima. The word pumpkin comes from the Greek pepon – πέπων – which means a large melon. The earliest
evidence of pumpkins has come from pumpkin-related seed found in Mexico, perhaps as old as 7000 years1.
Pumpkins are now grown around the world and popular classic dishes include pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup.
Nutritionally, the orange yellow flesh of pumpkins contains lutein and both alpha and beta-carotene. We convert
beta-carotene (a carotenoid) to vitamin A which may protect against heart disease and some forms of cancer2.
Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) are very nutritious, and, in addition to protein, are rich sources of calcium, magnesium,
copper and zinc3.
Pumpkins are very interesting botanically too! Amongst other things, they have both male and female
flowers produced on the one plant (monoecious). For many years, Ron Oldfield has used hairs from pumpkin stems
and petioles (leaf stalks) to demonstrate cytoplasmic streaming to his microscopy students.
Pumpkins, of course, feature largely in Halloween celebrations. The origins of Halloween are complex and
disappear back into antiquity. Halloween, or All Hallowes’ Eve, is on 31st October, the evening before All Saints
Day. It may have originated in the form of harvest festivals brought to Britain from Western Europe. Scots and
Irish immigrants took Halloween traditions to North America in the mid-19th Century, Traditionally they used
turnips for Halloween, but in North America, immigrants found pumpkins were much easier to carve4! In recent
years, commercial ventures have taken Halloween to South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
In spite of its current popularity, older
Australians will tell you that Halloween played no part in
their childhood.
A & K. Downing,
Department of Biological Sciences
Macquarie University, NSW, 2109, Australia,
29th October 2012
1
2
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin
University of Illinois: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/pumpins/nutrition/cfm
Self Nutrition Data: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-andseed-products/3141/2
4
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
3