The word 'pumpkin' can refer to a number of squashes as genetically dissimilar to each other as acorn and butternut squash

Friday, November 04, 2016 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: pumpkin, squash, genetic similarity

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(NaturalNews) Most people immediately recognize a similarity between pumpkins and other kinds of hard-skinned, winter squashes such as acorn squash, butternut squash and spaghetti squash. This leads to the perfectly reasonable assumption that all these names refer to different verities of squash. This is true, up to a point.

"Acorn squash" refers to various cultivars of the species Cucurbita pepo, while "spaghetti squash" refers to other cultivars of the same species. "Butternut squash" refers to certain cultivars of the related but separate species Cucurbita moschata.

In England, "pumpkin" refers merely to any winter squash. In the United States, however, it refers to the iconic orange, ribbed, mostly round squashes traditionally used for pies and jack-o'-lanterns. These squashes can come from any of four different species: Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima or Cucurbita moschata.

That's right: Pumpkins are actually defined by how they look. Carving pumpkins and pie pumpkins are actually members of different species! That's good news for lovers of pumpkin seeds -- it means that you can get all the same flavor and nutritional benefits from the seeds of any winter squash.

http://science.naturalnews.com