Squash (Engl.)

An annual climbing plant Height: Up to 5 metres long Leaves: Leaves alternate, simple, without stipules; petiole 9–24 cm long, grooved; blade broadly ovate in outline, shallowly palmately 5–7-lobed, (10–)20–35 cm in diameter, deeply cordate at base, margins toothed, softly hairy, sometimes with white markings disappearing at senescence, 3-veined from the base. Flowers: Flowers solitary, unisexual, regular, 5-merous, large, 10–20 cm in diameter, lemon yellow to deep orange; sepals free, subulate to linear, 1–3 cm long; corolla campanulate, with widely spreading lobes; male flowers long-pedicelled (up to 16 cm), with 3 stamens, filaments free, anthers usually connivent into a long twisted body; female flowers shortly pedicelled (up to 3.5 cm), with inferior, ellipsoid, 1-celled ovary, style thick, stigmas 3, 2-lobed. Fruits: Fruit a large, globose to ovoid or cylindrical berry, weighing up to 10 kg, with a wide range of colours, often covered with green spots and grey stripes, with small, raised, wartlike spots; flesh yellow to orange, many-seeded; fruit stalk enlarged at apex.