Squash (plant) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Squash
Yellow squash
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Cucurbita

Squashes are a kind of vegetable-like fruit. They originally came from the New World. Gourds are in the same family as squashes. Pumpkins and courgette are types of squashes.

Word origin

The English word "squash" comes from askutasquash (which means "a green thing eaten raw"). This is a word from the Narragansett language, which was documented by Roger Williams in his 1643 publication A Key Into the Language of America. There are similar words for squash in related languages of the Algonquian family such as Massachusett.

Squash and art

The squash has been an important crop in the Andes mountains since the pre-Columbian Era. The Moche culture from Northern Peru made ceramics from earth, water, and fire. This pottery was used to represent important themes. Squash are a popular shape in Moche ceramics.

Images for kids

  • Beige squashes DSC01081

    Squashes grow hanging from a network of stalks

  • Femalesquash3747

    Longitudinal section of female flower of squash (courgette), showing ovary, ovules, pistil, and petals

  • Squashes

    Various squashes such as Turban, Sweet Dumpling, Carnival, Gold Acorn, Delicata, Buttercup and Golden Nugget.

Images for kids

  • Cucurbita 2011 G1

    C. pepo pumpkins – the two bright orange ones in center right, and squashes C. maxima, all others

  • Green Cucurbita moschata leaves with white spots

    The leaves of Cucurbita moschata often have white spots near the veins.

  • a variety of fruits displayed in a garden, some in a sack, some in a basket

    A variety of fruits displayed at the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid in 2016

  • Several types and colors of Cucurbita

    An assortment of fruits of C. maxima and C. pepo

  • Bee pollinating female Cucurbita flower

    Cucurbita female flower with pollinating squash bees

  • Male Cucurbita flower

    Male flower, part of the perianth and one filament removed

  • Kabocha seedling at seven days age

    Kabocha seedling seven days after being sown

  • Sliced butternut squash

    C. moschata 'Butternut'

  • Curved green squashes

    Fruit of the 'Tromboncino' cultivar of the Crookneck (C. moschata) Group are eaten either when very young, or as mature winter squash.

  • Green acorn squashes]] 
    Winter squash, both a shrubby and creeping plant, obovoid or conical shape, pointed at the apex and with longitudinal grooves, thus resembling a spinning top, ex: [[Acorn squash
  • Slender green Cocozzelle squash]] 
    Summer squash, long round slender fruit that is slightly bulbous at the apex, similar to fastigata, ex: [[Cocozelle von tripolis
  • Yellow curved squash]] 
    Summer squash, shrubby plant, with yellow, golden, or white fruit which is long and curved at the end and generally has a verrucose (wart-covered) rind, ex: [[Crookneck squash
  • Round orange pumpkin]] 
    Winter squash, creeping plant, round, oblate, or oval shape and round or flat on the ends, ex: Pumpkin; includes C. pepo subsp. pepo var. styriaca, used for Styrian [[pumpkin seed oil
  • Whitish round squash]] 
    Summer squash, prefers half-shrubby habitat, flattened or slightly discoidal shape, with undulations or equatorial edges, ex: [[Pattypan squash
  • Yellow straight squashes]] 
    Summer squash, shrubby plant, with yellow or golden fruit and verrucose rind, similar to var. torticollia but a stem end that narrows, ex: [[Straightneck squash
  • Slender green squash]] 
    Summer squash, presently the most common group of cultivars, origin is recent (19th century), semi-shrubby, cylindrical fruit with a mostly consistent diameter, similar to fastigata, ex: [[Zucchini
  • Early 1500s painting of squash plants and fruits

    Cucurbita pepo subsp. texana, from Les Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne, 1503–1508, f. 161, earliest depiction of cucurbits in Europe

  • Squash carved into a teapot shape

    Moche squash ceramic. 300 A.D. Larco Museum

  • White, green, and orange squashes built into a Christmas tree shape

    Towering pyramid of squashes in the Waterlily House, Kew Gardens, 2013


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Squash (plant) Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.