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Ethnobotany of Mexico pp 389–401Cite as

Homo sapiens–Cucurbita interaction in Mesoamerica: Domestication, Dissemination, and Diversification

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Abstract

Cucurbita are monoecious and creeping plants including 20 taxa and 15 species. In Mesoamerica, four species were domesticated or diversified after domestication in other geographic areas: C. argyrosperma C. pepo, C. moschata, and C. ficifolia. The earliest evidences of the domestication of Cucurbita date 9000 BP from Southwestern Mesoamerica and 10,000 BP from Southwestern Ecuador. The main targets of human selection were the seeds contained in larger and less bitter and toxic fruits (due to cucurbitacins), without vine detachment. C. argyrosperma ssp. sororia from México to Central America warm-humid and subhumid climates is considered the wild ancestor of the domesticated C. argyrosperma ssp. argyrosperma. For C. pepo, the proposed ancestor of the domesticated populations of México is C. pepo ssp. fraterna from northeastern Mexico, while the putative progenitor of the cultivars from in North America is C. pepo ssp. texana from eastern United States. For C moschata, there are two hypotheses as to its domestication region: southern Mesoamerica, or from the lowlands of Colombia and southern Ecuador. Cultivated C. ficifolia is found from the Mexican highlands south to Chile and Argentina, its center of domestication is either Central America or southern Mexico/Central America, as supported by linguistic evidence, or the Andes, as indicated by archaeological evidences from Peru dated at 3000 BC. Humans spread cultivated Cucurbita inside and out of Mesoamerica, structuring a complex agricultural system along with corn (Zea mays), and different species of beans (Phaseolus spp.) called “milpa,” that were established in a wide range of environments.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Biotecnología y Prototipos (UBIPRO), FES Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Tlalnepantla, Estado de México, Mexico

    Rafael Lira Ph.D.

  2. Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, CP 04510, México, Distrito Federal, Mexico

    Luis Eguiarte Ph. D.

  3. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Campo Experimental Bajío, Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico

    Salvador Montes Ph.D.

  4. Dpto. Agricultura, Sociedad y Ambiente. El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México

    Daniel Zizumbo-Villarreal Ph.D. & Patricia Colunga-García Marín Ph.D.

  5. Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán., Mérida, México

    Daniel Zizumbo-Villarreal Ph.D. & Patricia Colunga-García Marín Ph.D.

  6. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad (IIES), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico

    Mauricio Quesada Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Rafael Lira Ph.D.
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  2. Luis Eguiarte Ph. D.
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  3. Salvador Montes Ph.D.
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  4. Daniel Zizumbo-Villarreal Ph.D.
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  5. Patricia Colunga-García Marín Ph.D.
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  6. Mauricio Quesada Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rafael Lira Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Biotecnología y Prototipos(UBI, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Estado de Mexico, Mexico

    Rafael Lira

  2. Instituto de Ivestigaciones en Ecosistem, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico

    Alejandro Casas

  3. Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morel, Colonia Chamilpa, Cuernavaca,, Morelos, Mexico

    José Blancas

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Lira, R., Eguiarte, L., Montes, S., Zizumbo-Villarreal, D., Marín, P.CG., Quesada, M. (2016). Homo sapiens–Cucurbita interaction in Mesoamerica: Domestication, Dissemination, and Diversification. In: Lira, R., Casas, A., Blancas, J. (eds) Ethnobotany of Mexico. Ethnobiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6669-7_15

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