Not All Pumpkins are Orange
November 4, 2021
By Faisal Ahmed
Pumpkins, or as they’re more affectionately known by the scientific community “Cucurbita Pepo”, are a lot more interesting than you might think. Every year C. Pepo pop all around the country marking the arrival of the fall season and aesthetic. On brand with the rest of the fall aesthetic pumpkins are notorious for their vibrant orange hues. But what if I told you that not all c. pepo’s are orange? You probably wouldn’t be surprised given the title of this article, but bear with me.
I’m not going to be making the pedantic argument that pumpkins are actually berries, which is true, and not all berries are orange, therefore not all pumpkins are orange. Nor will I make the tempting argument regarding the diversity in hues amongst members of the gourd family in general as proof of the diversity in hues amongst c. pepo.
Before I present my actual argument, undoubtedly showing the diversity of c. pepo color, let’s talk about how pumpkins become orange in the first place. Plants get their color from pigments, and pigments are the byproduct of natural processes like photosynthesis. The most popular pigment involved in plants is chlorophyll, which makes them green. In fact, when pumpkins initially start sprouting they are green, and not orange all the way throughout. Then in the fall, when nights are longer and days are shorter, less photosynthesis occurs, which reduces the amount of chlorophyll in the pumpkin, and increases the prevalence of another pigment called carotenoids. Carotenoids give a number of other plants their orange color too. And so when there are more carotenoids in the pumpkins their color transitions from green to orange.
The change in the amount of pigment in the c. pepo is the primary mode of color change in a plant, but it’s not the only factor that contributes to a pumpkin’s color. Other factors such as soil moisture, and temperature can also affect the color of a pumpkin.
So considering this process, why am I saying that not all pumpkins are orange? Simply for the fact that this process isn’t “perfect”, as if a non-orange pumpkin is somehow less of a pumpkin. Some pumpkins, even of the same species, vary in their levels of carotenoids or chlorophyll. Some pumpkins respond differently to changes in moisture and temperature. This is how pumpkins growing in the same patch or even right next to each other can be different colors. Diversity is inherent to natural processes.
This argument extends beyonds c. pepo, and to all living organisms, including homo sapiens, or as we affectionately call ourselves, people. People are the same, just like how pumpkins are the same, but what it means to be a person is always a lot broader than we think it is. A person’s identity is a lot more complex than a pumpkin’s color, and its nature inherently varies. Because of where we live, we might find certain similarities in the people we know, but we should use this as a shortcut to think of how all people are. In different circumstances we might become different people too.