Cucurbita pepo Seeds | Green Pattypan Pumpkin

Green Pattypan Squash seeds (Cucurbita pepo)

LATIN NAME: Cucurbita pepo

COMMON NAME: Green Pattypan Squash, Summer Squash

Plant Profile

A distinctive member of its genus, Green Pattypan Squash (Cucurbita pepo) is a bushy annual in the gourd family, native to warm regions of the Americas. Green pattypan squash is a distinctive small, disk-like squash with scalloped edges, like a toy top or a flying saucer, and its pleasant, nutty flavour has made it a beloved summer vegetable. It is a variety of Cucurbita pepo, native to warm regions of the Americas, and it is grown as a fine warm-season vegetable, prized for its decorative shape and its tender, nutty flesh. Its flowers draw a steady traffic of bees and other beneficial insects. It is the sort of plant that quietly justifies the space it occupies.

Science & Biotechnology

Cucurbita pepo sits in the gourd family, a group that keeps botanists, horticulturists and plant breeders busy with questions of classification, adaptation and ornamental potential. Summer squash has a real and distinguished place in the research. With present-day seed handling, raising this species well within the reach of any careful grower.

Uses & Benefits

In the garden, Green Pattypan Squash earns its place in borders, containers and mixed plantings, and it also rewards growers who raise plants for cutting, drying or kitchen use. Ecologically, summer squash is a generous plant of the garden. Its large, golden-yellow, funnel-shaped flowers feed bees and many insects, and its broad, leafy stems give a fine, dense cover to ground of vegetable garden. Once settled, it thrives on neglect more than on fussing.

Pumpkins and squashes deliver carotenoid-rich flesh, and their seeds are a recognized functional food: pumpkin-seed oil preparations are used in European phytotherapy for prostate and bladder comfort, and the seeds supply zinc, magnesium and tryptophan.

Growing from Seed

Green Pattypan Squash is one of those generous plants that come along well from seed. A simple routine works well: sow evenly over the surface and cover lightly in a loose, well-drained seed compost, maintain even moisture, and provide bright light. Once the seedlings have made true leaves, pot them on individually and plant out when they are sturdy and conditions are right.

Our Take

Its long record of traditional use, described above, gives the plant a story beyond ornament. Few garden plants carry such a documented history of use as this one does. From then on, routine care is all that is required.

Vegetable Seeds / Vegetable