Seed Savers Alliance
Supporting Northern Wisconsin in sowing seeds of success.
  • Home
  • About
    • How Seed Libraries Work
  • Contact
  • Seed Library Locations
  • Start a Seed Library
  • Helpful Resources
    • Plant Families >
      • Amaranth Family
      • Beetroot Family
      • Buttercup Family
      • Cabbage Family
      • Carrot Family
      • Daisy Family
      • Grass Family
      • Lily Family
      • Mallow Family
      • Mint Family
      • Morning-Glory Family
      • Nightshade Family
      • Onion Family
      • Pea & Bean Family
      • Purslane Family
      • Squash Family
    • Seed Saving Protocol
    • Seed Saving Tutorials
    • Start Saving Seeds
    • Words to Know
    • Other Seed Saving Resources
  • For Current Seed Libraries
Picture

Squash Family

Cucurbitaceae

The Squash Family is comprised of annual plants and all members have imperfect flowers. Members in this family are somewhat tricky to save seed from because the risk of cross pollination is extremely high. Bees and other pollinators LOVE the yellow blossoms and will carry pollen from all sorts of varieties for miles. You will need to avoid cross pollination either by distance or by hand pollination. When saving seeds from the Squash Family you will want to make sure that the fruits are almost overripe on the vine to ensure the seed is fully matured.

Seed Matters-Seed Saving Chart

Members Include:
  • hispida–wax gourd (winter melon)
  • lanatus–watermelon, citron
  • anguria–West Indian gherkin (burr cucumber)
  • melo–muskmelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, casaba, Armenian cucumber (snake melon), Asian pickiling melon, pocket melon (vine pomegranate), vine peach (mango melon)
  • metuliferus–jelly melon (African horned cucumber)
  • sativus–cucumbers (except Amernian cucumber, burr cucumber, and African horned cucumber)
  • ficifolia–Malabar gourd (chilacayote)
  • foetidissima–calabazilla
  • maxima–squash (vars.-banana, buttercup, hubbard, turban)
  • mixta–squash (vars.-green striped cushaw, white cushaw, wild Seroria squashes, silver seeded gourds)
  • moschata–squash (vars.-butternut, cheese, golden cushaw)
  • pepo–squash (vars.-acorn, crookneck, scallop, small striped and warted gourds, spaghetti, zucchini)
  • pedata–caihua (achoecha)
  • siceraria–hard shelled gourd
  • acutangula–angled luffa
  • aegyptiaca–smooth luffa
  • balsamina–balsam apple
  • charantia–balsam pear (bitter melon)
  • edule–chayote (vegetable pear)
  • odorifera–cassabanana
  • anguina–serpent gourd
Italic words=species, regular words=variety 
*Remember that varieties within the same species are likely to cross-pollinate with one another and you must take proper precautions to isolate these if you or a neighbor are growing more than one variety within the same species.


Click on the orange words to find more information on how to plant and save seeds from these varieties.
Online fundraising for Seed Savers Alliance
We would love to improve the quality and outreach of our current libraries, as well as help to start new ones, but we need your help to do so. Please, help us help you support our right to share seeds by donating now. All you need to do is click the green donate button to the left to do your part. Every little bit counts.
Proudly powered by Weebly