the.com/zucchini
a vegetable so eager to grow it'll bury your neighbors in green by August.
means A long, green summer squash, harvested young and tender, that turns up in everything from stir-fries to suspiciously sweet bread.
from From Italian zucchini, the plural of zucchino, a diminutive of zucca, "gourd" or "squash" — so literally "little squashes." Zucca itself may descend from Late Latin cucutia, of uncertain origin. The plant came to Italy from the Americas after Columbus, but it was Italian gardeners who bred and named this slender variety; Americans borrowed the Italian word, while the British took the French route and call the same vegetable a courgette (from the French for "little gourd").
- actually fruit
- botanically a berry, since seeds form inside
- new world veteran
- modern form perfected in 1800s Italy
- record length
- longest exceeded 8 feet, fully edible
- male flowers
- blossoms are fried and eaten as delicacy
- zero defense
- unattended plants flood gardens overnight
summer squash — botanical category including zucchini, grown worldwide since 16th century introduction to europe from americas
cucurbita pepo — scientific species name for zucchini and other summer squashes, domesticated in mesoamerica ~8000 years ago