Even though Mexico is the home of most domesticated species of cucurbita, it seems to be overlooked in it’s amazing diversity of them. I wanted to just show examples of cucurbita species in Mexico and their different shapes or looks, some I’ve never seen elsewhere.
Cucurbita pepo
Pepos are the blue ones in last photo
Cucurbita argyrosperma
Cucurbita moschata
Awesome. I got curious about the moschata diversity a little while ago, looks like the different areas in Mexico have their own landraces. I hadn’t seen the big banana-type ones! Thank you for sharing.
Gosh this is just so beautiful and inspiring fills my heart thinking of the relationship these people have had with these seeds for so many generations. I was just in Oaxaca on the coast and saw a lot of moschata, and now I’m thinking I saw angiosperma too but just assumed they were moschata. I thought about bringing back seeds and am still kind of kicking myself that I didn’t!
From what I found it seemed Oaxaca tended to have the most diversity in squashes or at least the most information/content on the different squashes.
Looks like squash harvest down there would be September to October, atleast according to the internet, and I was down there February so kinda makes sense I saw less Pepos as that’s probably the first ones to eat up, Im so excited to go back after learning more Spanish so I can really chat with the farmers, I was able to ask simple questions but gosh so much to learn that I wasn’t able to understand yet! The agriculture was so abundant even being there in the dry season can’t wait to go back mid to late rainy season !!
I’ve looked at all the squash photos you posted like ten times now and get giddy each time lol!
Road trip?? 
I do speak Spanish but haven’t been in Mexico on my own yet. Lots to see.
I would love to get my hands on seeds from those plants! I have great admiration for the indigenous farmers of Mexico, Central America, and North America. They invented many of our staple crops and they still are tops in cultivation, selection and breeding. Industrial hybrids may produce more under ideal conditions but indigenous varieties are more resilient and adaptive. Which, in my garden, matters a lot more than sheer productivity.
I’ve found some more examples of the amazing diversity of moschatas but there are a few that I’ve never seen anything like before. The first being the little hubbard shaped one and then another one being the acorn or almost conical shaped with stripes like agyrosperma, and lastly a flat disc like one. All seem to come from the Yucatan peninsula and the surrounding states, which I’ve found have the greatest diversity of moschatas and the potential place of origin of the species.
I can’t forget to mention the diversity of cucurbita maxima or zapallos in their native South America. Mostly centered to 2 areas, the temperate south Chile and Argentina then the high altitude northern Andean countries of Ecuador, Peru and parts of Bolivia and Colombia. It’s interesting how many of the squash grown both by home farmers and market sellers tend to be on the larger side compared to the ones most common in the US which are usually small or personal sized. I also like to admire all the different colors of cucurbita maxima, which is probably the most colorful of all the cucurbita species.
Awww they’re so beautiful. I got some zapallo camote seeds from a Chilean woman, it sounds really tasty 
It would be great to get some of these landraces imported back to the US however for now Nativeseed search does have some good variety of c. Agyrosperma and occasionally c. Pepo seeds for sale. There are also sellers on eBay or etsy with them under their Spanish word for pumpkin, “calabaza”. Im also aware many landraces are grown in central valley of California, coming from the migrant workers and you can find them on roadside markets or occasionally Facebook marketplace.
I did get some seeds from Native Seed Search. I didn’t have the capacity this year to track individual varieties in my garden. I just put all my squash seeds in a bag and shook them up. I felt some remorse about this, but really it’s the plants that matter most to me, not their origin nor names. What does well, is what i will carry forward.
On a side note, I save all seeds from squash that I eat. I use these seeds as “low investment” seeds for experimental and guerrilla gardening purposes. From this, I have learned that it generally is unnecessary to plant squash seeds in the ground. Nor is it necessary to work the ground beforehand. It is sufficient to scatter them on the surface in a disturbed area (grass lawn is a disturbed area that works. Piles of clean fill are great too. I imagine that a grazed pasture would also work well after moving the livestock) and wait for rain. Where I live in Illinois zone 6a, I have surprisingly high rates of germination and survival using the low investment method.
I still plant “high value” seeds in the ground and work the soil beforehand, but that is just for first-generation seed increase purposes.
