Cross-pollination of cultivated plants by wild cucurbits in the form of weeds growing nearby can cause problems. Fruits from the parent the cultivated plant are not affected and do not exhibit bitterness.
Plants grown from seeds from those fruits, however, may produce high levels of cucurbitacin. Cucurbitacin poisoning is rare. But it does occur. In , the Washington State Department of Health received reports of four people two from Jefferson County who became ill from cucurbitacin after eating a squash resembling a small green-and-white striped pumpkin.
The squash was purchased locally. Those affected reported that the squash tasted bitter. They each developed stomach cramps and diarrhea; all fully recovered from their illness in less than two days. The level of the toxin cannot be determined by the appearance of a squash plant or the fruit. To prevent cucurbitacin poisoning, keep the following in mind:. If you eat a cultivated cucurbit with an unusually strong, bitter taste, spit it out. Swallowing even a small amount of a cucurbit with abnormally high cucurbitacin levels has been reported to cause illness.
Since cross-pollination is a contributing factor to large concentrations of cucurbitacin, do not eat squash that you are unfamiliar with, either. Flickr mrsdewinter. If you have eaten even just a few bites of exceedingly bitter squash, pumpkin, cucumber or another member of the cucurbit family, watch for these symptoms:.
In addition, substantial hair loss can occur several weeks after curcurbitacin poisoning. The two women noted in the JAMA report experienced hair loss from their scalps and bodies that took several months to regrow. A review of the lesson on the "birds and the bees" may be helpful in understanding flowering, pollination, and fruit development in cucurbits. Cucurbits have a flowering habit which is quite unique among the vegetable crops.
They are "monoecious", which means they produce separate male and female flowers on the same plant. The flowers are found in the axils of the leaves.
The flowers can be easily distinguished from each other as the female flowers have small, immature fruits at their bases.
In order for fruit set to occur, pollen from the male flower must be transferred to the female flower. Honeybees are the principal means by which pollen is transferred from the male flower to the female flower. The part of the lesson about "bees". Since they have a similar flowering habit, bloom about the same time, and are members of the same plant family, it is logical that gardeners might assume that squash, melons, and cucumbers will cross-pollinate.
Fortunately, however, this is not true. So remember cross pollination only occurs between members of the same botanical species. But within botanical species, you can have cross pollination. So for example, Zucchini, Pumpkin, Acorn, and Spaghetti squash are all members of the same species Cucurbita pepo. So all of these can cross with each other and produce seed that is a genetic combination of the two parents.
So if a pumpkin and a zucchini cross pollinate the pumpkins and zucchini that you get this year will be perfectly fine, they will look right and taste right. That is because the type of fruit a plant produces this season is determined by the seed it was planted from, not the seed it will produce. The combined genetic material is in the SEED, not the fruit. Another common myth is if you plant sweet peppers and hot peppers together they will cross and all your peppers will be off.
Again this is a myth. Yes, hot and sweet peppers are members of the same species, but the cross pollination affects the seeds, not the fruit! So what does this mean for you? If you have funny shaped, funny tasting or funny colored fruit this year it is caused by one of two things:.
The point is, strange fruit is never caused by pollination issues in the current growing season. That is just not genetically possible!! There is one exception to this rule.
And that is sweet corn. Crossing between sweet corn and either field or popcorn will ruin the sweet corn in the current season. But think about it, what part of the plant are we eating when we eat corn?
The seed!
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