One of the traits that often characterize fruits of non-domesticated Cucurbita is lignified (hard) rinds. Fruit of domesticated Cucurbita can have either lignified or nonlignified (soft) rinds. Schaffer et al. (6) noted that many summer squash cultivars of C. pepo, which are usually consumed within 10 days post-anthesis, have lignified rinds at maturity. On the other hand, winter squash cultivars, which need to be cut open at maturity for consumption, often are not lignified. Inheritance of lignification in Cucurbita was first studied by Mains (2) in both gourd and cultivated types of C. pepo. He concluded that this trait is controlled by a single dominant gene which was later given the symbol Hr by Robinson et al. (5). Schaffer et al. (6) confirmed that this is a single dominant trait in C. pepo.