Did you know that - botanically speaking - Halloween Jack O’Lantern Pumpkins are more closely related to zucchini than they are to Kent / Jap pumpkins, butternut pumpkins, or giant pumpkins?
This episode, Kade and Matt chat about some awesome PUMPKIN science!

Like, speaking of giant pumpkins… how and why do they get so giant?! 

What does it take, according to science, to grow amazing pumpkins? We chat about everything from companion planting, to the birds and the bees (that is, quite literally, pollination methods) of male and female flowers. We touch on history and culture, agricultural, and botanical science. 

And then, sticking with the plant theme, we answer a listener question about the magic of plants and how they defy gravity to pump water from the ground up without a pumping heart! 

As always, you can find us @curiosityrat on X, instagram, and facebook, and send your listener questions in to [email protected]

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References:

Cursed Turnip Jack O’Lantern:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/the-twisted-transatlantic-tale-of-american-jack-o-lanterns

 

Great video on Taxonomy and name daddy Carl Linnaeus: 

https://youtu.be/F38BmgPcZ_I?si=2nS6wI4zDOZzpB-H

 

Male and Female Flowers:

https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/visual-guides/pollination-of-squash-and-pumpkins

 

Other Refs:

https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article-abstract/81/3/233/2725697

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362020286_Recent_advances_in_genetics_and_breeding_of_pumpkin_Cucurbita_moschata_Duch

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39117354/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200033556_The_Initial_Domestication_of_Cucurbita_pepo_in_the_Americas_10000_Years_Ago

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335470455_Functional_and_nutraceutical_properties_of_pumpkin_-_a_review

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.12502

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jf063413d

https://brill.com/view/journals/ijps/65/3-4/article-p202_202.xml?language=en