Slight resemblance to : Pumpkin and Marrow.

Uniquely identifiable characteristics

Distinguishing Feature :

Cucurbita pepo is the species name of a great many differing varieties of Marrows, including Courgette (Zucchini), Pumpkin, Naked seeded Pumpkin, Field Pumpkin, Acorn Squash, Summer Squash, Spaghetti Squash and Marrow. All these are cultivated varieties of Cucurbita pepo of which Marrow is the only one listed by Clive Stace as growing wild but casual mostly in Southern Britain.

Pumpkin and Winter Squashh come under the species Cucurbita maxima; Cucumber, under the Cucurbita sativa species, Butternut Squash and 'Dickinson' Pumpkin under Cucurbita moschata which are both slightly different. There are at least a dozen other species under the Cucurbita genus. All belong to the Marrow Family (Cucurbitaceae).

Like all members of the Marrow Family they can contain bitter toxins called Cucurbaticins. These are not usually a problem in edible fruit because their concentration is low, but the occasional older specimen (which have darker green skins) can taste a little bitter because of these toxic alkaloids.

Courgettes are used as a vegetable, in savoury dishes, but are in fact the fruit of the plan; the greatly enlarged ovary of the flower, which can grow to a metre in length, but are seldom allowed to, being harvested when fresher at a maximum of 50cm, usually much less. This minimises the amount of Cucurbaticin toxins, which are also minimised by being bred out of cultivated plants. It originated in America and later developed in Italy, hence the secondary name 'Zucchini'.

Perhaps the most well known dish containing courgettes is rattatouille, a french dish also containing tomatoes, bell-peppers and onions.

The large yellow flowers are reminiscent of those of Yellow Horned-Poppy (Glaucium flavum) but those have but four petals.