Cucurbita pedatifolia is a xerophyte plant species of the genus Cucurbita.[3][4][5] It is native to Querétaro, Mexico. It has not been domesticated.[4] While C. pedatifolia has been cross bred, results have met with limited success.[6] It does not cross well with other species of Cucurbita.[7] It is a close relative of Cucurbita radicans.[6] Geographic location and genetics make it highly likely that Cucurbita scabridifolia is a naturally occurring hybrid of Cucurbita foetidissima and C. pedatifolia.[8] It also has some mesophyte traits may represent a transitional state between the mesophytic Cucurbita and the xerophytic Cucurbita.[9]
The species was formally described by Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1943, in Gentes Herbarum.[3]Cucurbita moorei was at one time described as a separate species native to the vicinity of Ixmiquilpan, Mexico within Cucurbita, but now is considered a synonym for C. pedatifolia.[4]
^ abBailey, Liberty Hyde (1943). "Species of Cucurbita". Gentes Herbarum. 6. Ithaca, NY: 267–322.
^ abcdNee, Michael (1990). "The Domestication of Cucurbita (Cucurbitaceae)". Economic Botany. 44 (3, Supplement: New Perspectives on the Origin and Evolution of New World Domesticated Plants). New York: New York Botanical Gardens Press: 56–68. JSTOR4255271.
^Bemis, W. P.; Whitaker, Thomas W. (April 1969). "The Xerophytic Cucurbita of Northwestern Mexico and Southwestern United States". Madroño. 20 (2). California Botanical Society: 33–41. JSTOR41423342.