''Cucurbita galeottii'' is a plant species of the genus ''

Cucurbita ''Cucurbita'' (Latin for gourd) is a genus of herbaceous fruits in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae (also known as ''cucurbits'' or ''cucurbi''), native to the Andes and Mesoamerica. Five edible species are grown and consumed for their flesh and ...

''. It is native to

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

, Mexico. It has not been

domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...

. There is very little known about this species. Nee reports that the species is a

xerophyte A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or the ...

and that Bailey only saw the species in photographs. It is only known from specimens that "lack roots, female flowers, fruits and seeds". The species was formally described by Alfred Cogniaux in 1881, in the third volume of Alphonse and Casimir de Candolle's ''Monographiæ Phanerogamarum''. ''Cucurbita galeottii'' (ch'ako') is a wild form of squash with round or pear-shaped fruits similar to small bottle gourds, with a green skin and white/yellow stripes. Ch'ako is found along lowland roadsides of southern Mexico. The fruit is tough skinned and bitter, but the young greens are eaten boiled.

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Original description by Cogniaux, 1881
Squashes and pumpkins Flora of Oaxaca Plants described in 1881 galeottii Taxa named by Alfred Cogniaux {{Cucurbitales-stub