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Visual Guide To Identifying Squash.

Maxima:

Leaves smooth and plain. Flowers smallish and rounded. Stem round and cork-like. Mature fruits are commonly shades of green, orange, and peach. Immature fruits may include yellow. Fruit size up to thousands of pounds. Squash over 40 pounds are almost always Maximas. Fruit shape is round, blocky, or elongated. (No necked squash.) Seeds large to extra large. Often corky. Only common squash which may produce brown seeds.

Moschata:

Smooth leaves. Often mottled. Huge rounded flowers. Stem 5 sided and flared where it connects to squash. Ripe fruits are tan. Immature fruits are light green, buff, or dark green. Fruit size up to 30 pounds. Fruit shape is blocky, elongated, or necked. Seeds small to medium -- often with a dark margin.

Pepo, Oaxacan:

Deeply lobed leaves. Sometimes with light mottling. Flowers fat star shaped. Stem 5 sided -- star-like -- very angular. Fruits are shades of white, green, yellow, orange, and buff. Fruit size up to about 30 pounds. Fruit shape is round, blocky, or elongated. Seeds large and flat. Pepo squash were domesticated twice.

Pepo, Atlantic:

Fruits are shades of white, green, and yellow. Fruit size up to about 5 pounds. Fruit shape is round, blocky, elongated, or necked. Fluting is common on fruits. Seeds small.

Mixta:

Jagged leaf margin -- sometimes deeply lobed. Often heavily mottled. Flowers star- shaped with petals rolled up. Stem cork-like -- more irregular and less round than Maxima. Fruits are shades of yellow, white, and green. Fruits roundish or necked. Fruit size up to 15 pounds. Seeds large -- skin often cracked.