[[File:Summer Squash.jpg|thumb|350px|left|Summer Squash]] Other Names : Cucurbita pepo
Squash has been a staple for the Native Americans for greater than 5000 years, and was a primary food for early Europeans who settled in America. It is said George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were enthusiastic squash growers. In the nineteenth century, merchant seamen brought with them new varieties of squash from other parts of the Americas with many new varieties. This has resulted in the development of several types of summer squash, with zucchini being the most popular summer squash purchased in the United States. The World's Healthiest Foods from the The George Mateljan Foundation reported on the myriad of health benefits of squash on June 17, 2013<br>See also : *[[Pumpkin]]*[[Winter Squash]]*[[Zucchini]]
==Varieties==
bottle gourd, calabash, spaghetti squash, cucuzza, cho-cho, choko, christophene, chuchu, cucuzza = cucuzzi = bottle gourd = calabash = zucca = suzza melon = Tasmania bean = New Guinea bean = Italian squash, cucuzzi, custard marrow, custard squash, cymling, courgette, globe squash = Ronde de Nice, Italian marrow, Italian squash, mango squash, marrow squash, mirliton, New Guinea bean, pattypan squash = scalloped squash = scallop = custard squash = white bush squash = cymling = white squash, pear squash, pepinella, scallop, scalloped squash, snake gourd, sousous, sunburst squash, suzza melon, Tasmania bean, tinda = Indian baby pumpkin = Punjabi tinda, vegetable pear, white bush squash, xuxu, yellow squash( includes yellow straightneck squash and yellow crookneck squash), zucca, [[zucchini]] = [[courgette]] = Italian marrow squash