Cucurbita pepo (seed)

Nomenclature

Cucurbita pepo L.   Cucurbitaceae  
Standardized common name (English): pumpkin

Botanical Voucher Specimen

Source: MOBOT, Tropicos.org

Organoleptic Characteristics

[Cucurbita Pepo is] slightly odorous when contused; taste bland and oily. Source: United States Dispensatory (1918)

Macroscopic Characteristics

Cucurbita Pepo, or common pumpkin, is a plant almost too well known to need description. The seeds are broadly elliptical or ovate, from 15 to 23 mm. in length and from 2 to 3 mm. in thickness; externally yellowish-white, very smooth, occasionally with thin, transparent fragments of adhering pulp and with a shallow groove parallel to and within 1 mm. of the margin; fracture short, seed-coat consisting of a white coriaceous outer layer and a membranous inner layer occasionally of a dark green color; embryo whitish, straight, with a small conical hypocotyl and two plano-convex cotyledons. Source: United States Dispensatory (1918)

Microscopic Characteristics

Under the microscope, sections of [Cucurbita Pepo] show an outer epidermal layer consisting of palisade-like cells, the radial walls attaining a length of 1 mm., the outer walls being usually torn off so that it appears as though the seeds were covered with very long hairs; a sub-epidermal layer consisting- of from 5 to 12 rows of cells with slightly thickened, lignified and porous walls; a layer of strongly lignified stone cells, elliptical in outline and about 0.075 mm. in length; a single layer of small cells resembling those of the sub-epidermal layer; several rows of parenchyma cells with characteristic reticulate markings and separated from each other by large intercellular spaces; several layers of parenchyma cells, the inner layer being more or less collapsed and bounded on the inside by a single epidermal layer, the cells having rather thick walls; the perisperm cells are usually more or less collapsed and the endosperm consists of a single layer of cells filled with small aleurone grains; the cotyledons consist of thin-walled, isodiametric, elongated or palisade-like cells containing a fixed oil and numerous small aleurone grains. Source: United States Dispensatory (1918)

High Performance Thin Layer Chromatographic Identification

Cucurbita pepo HPTLC ID - Vanillin Sulfuric Acid Reagent Visible Light Pumpkin (seed) (Cucurbita pepo) Lane Assignments Lanes, from left to right (Track, Volume, Sample): 3 μL Cucurbita pepo-1 (seed) 3 μL Cucurbita pepo-2 (seed no shells) 3 μL Cucurbita pepo-3 (seed no shells) 3 μL Cucurbita pepo-4 (seed) 3 μL Cucurbita pepo-4 (seed) 3 μL Cucurbita pepo-5 (seed no shells) 3 μL Cucurbita pepo-6 (seed with shells) 2 μL Cucurbita pepo-7 (seed) Reference materials used here have been authenticated by macroscopic, microscopic &/or TLC studies according to the reference source cited below held at Alkemists Laboratories, Costa Mesa, CA.  Stationary Phase Silica gel 60, F254, 10 x 10 cm HPTLC plates  Mobile Phase chloroform: ethanol [9.5/0.5]  Sample Preparation Method 0.3 g + 3 ml CH3OH sonicated + heated @ 50° C ~ 1 hr.  Detection Method Vanillin/H2SO4 Reagent -> 110° C 5 min -> visible light  Reference see British Herbal Pharmacopoeia, 1996 Source: Elan M. Sudberg, Alkemist Laboratories