Cucurbita moschata
Cucurbita moschata
Found in gardens, fields, trash heaps, commonly cultivated in home gardens and commercially, rarely volunteering from seed the following year. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Florida edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
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At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 5 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
14CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Cucurbita
- Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
- Diaphania hyalinataMelonworm Moth
- Diaphania nitidalisPickleworm Moth
- Eichlinia cucurbitaeSquash Vine Borer
- Estigmene acreaSalt Marsh Moth, Acrea Moth
- Feltia repletaReplete Dart
- Feltia subterraneaSubterranean Dart, Granulate Cutworm
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Proxenus mirandaMiranda Moth, Glistening Rustic
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
Show all 14
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
- Trichoplusia niNi Moth, Cabbage Looper Moth
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
1Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Cucurbita
- Xenoglossa strenua
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimPlant details
- Family
- CUCURBITACEAE
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications