“How do you tell the difference between a green pumpkin and a gourd?”
Heirloom pumpkin display at our local grocery store. (Photo: Shala Howell)
Last week, as I was dashing into our local grocery supply to replenish our perilously low milk supplies, I noticed this heirloom pumpkin display. I took a picture of it to show The Six-Year-Old, because I knew she would never believe that green pumpkins existed if I did not present the proper documentation.
My photograph told The Six-Year-Old everything she wanted to know about green pumpkins, but Daddyo’s mind had a question.
“How can you tell the difference between a green pumpkin and a gourd?”
Pumpkins, it turns out, are members of the gourd family. So one way to answer Daddyo’s question (if I wanted to be really irritating about it) would be to say, “You don’t.”
But I know that what Daddyo means by gourd are those nobby hard-sided things that rattle about in Thanksgiving centerpieces across the nation this time of year.
Gourds (Photo: Deviant Art Public Domain Pics)
Basically, for our family’s purposes, the difference is in the skin.
If the skin’s hard, it’s a gourd. If the skin’s soft and smooth, we call it a pumpkin (or squash).
However, I should point out that our family’s classification isn’t at all scientific.
Scientifically speaking, pumpkins, squash, and gourds all belong to the cucurbita plant family.
Scientists sort gourds and other cucurbitas into subfamilies based on their stem, not their skin.
The bright orange pumpkins with the hard woody stems so popular with the kids for carving jack-o-lanterns and the moms for roasting seeds belong to the cucurbita pepo subgroup. This group includes other fruits* with hard woody stems, like gourds, pattypan summer squash, scallop summer squash, gray and black zucchini, and summer crookneck squash.
*Although we think of them as vegetables, pumpkins and squash are technically fruits, because they contain the seeds of the plant.
Pumpkins with yellowish skin and soft spongy stems belong to the cucurbita maxima subgroup, along with the banana, buttercup, turban, and most other winter squashes.
Pumpkins in the last subgroup, cucurbita moschata, have deeply ridged stems, tan skin, and a long or oblong shape (rather than round). The moschata family also includes the cushaw, winter crookneck, and butternut squash.
So to sum up:
- Hard woody stem, cucurbita pepo
- Soft spongy stem, cucurbita maxima
- Deeply ridged stem (and tan skin), cucurbita moschata
And there you have it, Daddyo. More than you ever wanted to know about classifying pumpkins, squash, and gourds.
You’re welcome.
Related Links:
- How to dry gourds (Amish Gourds)
- All About Squash (About.com)
- Breakfast at Caterpickles II (Caterpickles)
- Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere (natureswalkphotography.com)
- The Savory Side of Pumpkin (youvegottotastethis.myrecipes.com)
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One Response to ““How do you tell the difference between a green pumpkin and a gourd?””
I love to grow them, no matter the genus or species, but don’t seem to have much luck here in Las Vegas. Tried giant gourds and just got a lot of vines and not much gourds. Tried pumpkins as well, I think but the plants just shriveled up, even with water.
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