Kusa means zucchini in Arabic. Zucchini is plural for zucchino, the Italian word for small squash. Squash is short for askutasquash, the Narragansett word for "eaten green or raw." So what is the story of this cultivar? This species, Cucurbita pepo, originates in Mexico and Central America and now includes many types such as the New England pumpkin, acorn, scallop, straight neck, crook neck, and vegetable marrow. It is said that Christopher Columbus introduced this species to Europe and the Mediterranean region. In the mid-19th century, Italians developed the zucchini, perhaps by selecting cultivars of the vegetable marrow type for cylindrical, green fruits that were tasty in their immature stage.