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Pumpkin
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Pumpkin Large orange pumpkins growing on the ground among green vines and leaves in a pumpkin patch under a clear blue sky. A slice of pumpkin pie topped with a swirl of whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon, being served from a pie dish.
Why Do People Carve Pumpkins for Halloween?
Roasted pumpkin seeds pumpkin pumpkin patch Lit jack-o-lantern with a carved face sits on a wooden table surrounded by pumpkin pieces, plastic spiders, a knife, and a bowl of pumpkin pulp.
The gourd family: Melons, squashes, and cucumbers
Quizzes
Chef tossing vegetables in a frying pan over a burner (skillet, food).
What’s on the Menu? Vocabulary Quiz
Red and yellow cherry tomatoes, some forming a question mark, against a light blue background. (organic, fruits, vegetables)
Fruit or Vegetable? A Quiz
Venus's-flytrap. Venus's-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) one of the best known of the meat-eating plants. Carnivorous plant, Venus flytrap, Venus fly trap
Plants: From Cute to Carnivorous
A scary old jack-o-lantern on black. Halloween pumpkin, trick or treat. Halloween holiday
Quick Quiz: Pumpkin Carving
Holiday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, turkey with stuffing and dressing. (holidays, Thanksgiving Day)
Thanksgiving Quiz
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Pumpkin
Pumpkin Large orange pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) ready for harvest.

Pumpkin

plant
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

Pumpkin, fruit of certain varieties of squash—such as varieties of Cucurbita pepo, C. moschata, and C. maxima—in the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), usually characterized by a hard orange rind with distinctive grooves. Some varieties of C. argyrosperma are also known as pumpkins. Pumpkins are commonly grown for human consumption, decorative purposes, and livestock feed. Taxonomy Pumpkins produce very long annual vines. Botanically, pumpkin fruits are a type of berry known as a pepo. They are generally...

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