Cucurbita pepo notches, pepone, round cucumber
Definition
The pumpkin, also called garden pumpkin, is an annual climbing plant that grows in tendrils, which can grow several meters long. The stems, which crawl over the ground or climb the walls, are sharp-edged, long furrowed, pentagonal, spikily hairy and hollow. The heart-shaped and bristly, long-stalked and very large leaves cover the ground.
The pumpkin flowers are bright yellow and stand in the corners of the leaves. The pumpkin fruits are yellow and love the sun. The pumpkins are harvested in autumn.
Because of its long shelf life, the pumpkin is also used as a winter vegetable. With its healing and healthy ingredients, the pumpkin is valued and processed into medicine. The pulp and seeds have health-promoting and healing properties.
Synonyms in a broader sense
The pumpkin has the Latin name cucurbita. Cucurbita literally means cucumber. In addition, you can find the names: Basket, Küwes, Flaske, Malune, Babenkern, Jonaskern, Peponensamen, Plunzer, Chörbse and Kürwessen.
Help with prostate enlargement. The pumpkin can be recognized by the tendrilous plants that crawl on the ground and spread luxuriantly. The fruits develop from large, yellow flowers.
For medicinal purposes the Styrian oil pumpkin has proven itself especially. It is grown in cultures. The pumpkin came to Europe from Mexico or Texas.
History
The pumpkin is one of the oldest cultivated and food plants in America. The natives of Peru and Mexico cultivated different kinds of pumpkin already 8000 years ago. In the 16th century sailors brought the garden pumpkin from America to Europe.
It was native to the Balkans, Turkey and Italy. In the 18th century the pumpkin came to France and England. Hieronymus Bock mentions the use of pumpkin seeds to support the bladder function.
In 1820 the pumpkin seeds were recommended against tapeworms. The medicinal plant pumpkin is a healthy, old vegetable with healing effects. Before the discovery of America, only the bottle of pumpkin was known in Europe.
Today, 800 different varieties of the medicinal plant pumpkin are known through breeding. Medically used are the ripe and dried pumpkin seeds of the garden pumpkin and its cultivated forms. Pumpkins are used worldwide as a vegetable plant, as fodder, as an ornamental plant, but especially as a medicinal plant. Characteristic ingredients are:
- Steroids
- Fatty oil
- Proteins and amino acids
- Vitamin E
- Minerals e.g. magnesium
- Trace elements e.g. selenium
- Beta-carotene and
- Per vitamin A.
