Cucurbita pedatifolia is a xerophyte plant species of the genus Cucurbita.[3][4][5] It is native to Querétaro, Mexico. It has not been domesticated.[4] While C. pedatifolia has been cross bred, results have met with limited success.[6] It does not cross well with other species of Cucurbita.[7] It is a close relative of Cucurbita radicans.[6] Geographic location and genetics make it highly likely that Cucurbita scabridifolia is a naturally occurring hybrid of Cucurbita foetidissima and C. pedatifolia.[8] It also has some mesophyte traits may represent a transitional state between the mesophytic Cucurbita and the xerophytic Cucurbita.[9]
The species was formally described by Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1943, in Gentes Herbarum.[3]Cucurbita moorei was at one time described as a separate species native to the vicinity of Ixmiquilpan, Mexico within Cucurbita, but now is considered a synonym for C. pedatifolia.[4]
^Bemis, W. P.; Whitaker, Thomas W. (April 1969). "The Xerophytic Cucurbita of Northwestern Mexico and Southwestern United States". Madroño. 20 (2). California Botanical Society: 33–41. JSTOR41423342.
