Chinese pumpkins

scientific: Cucurbita moschata
pinyin: zhōngguó nánguā
hanzi: 中国南瓜

• the broad term for pumpkins is 南瓜 (nán guā).^[1]

• Chinese Pumpkin ( 中国南瓜 , Cucurbita moschata) – e.g. here on wikipedia.

  • these look so much like what we call Butternut pumpkins (aka the best pumpkins)… which makes sense, because that’s apparently what they are!^[2]

  • commonly cultivated in China.^[1:1]

‘Butternut squash’ by levork (CC BY-SA 2.0).

• the Compendium of Materia Medica suggests pumpkin vines have the effect of ‘clearing away heat’, while the pumpkin itself can cure toothache.^[3]