Butternut squash or Courgette: how to tell them apart?
Butternut squash and Courgette look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.
⚡ The quick answer
Butternut squash
Cucurbita moschata
Courgette
Cucurbita pepo
Butternut squash has a hard, angular stalk that flares widely into a star shape where it joins the fruit; the courgette has an equally hard and angular stalk, but it stays thin and does not flare where it joins the fruit.
🍃 Leaves
Large, rounded with 5 faint lobes, slightly downy
Large, palmate, rough, often mottled with white
🌸 Flowers
Large, orange-yellow, trumpet-shaped; monoecious plant
Large trumpet-shaped yellow-orange flowers; monoecious plant (separate male and female flowers)
🍎 Fruits
Elongated pear-shaped fruit, beige-orange skin, dense, sweet orange flesh with a musky flavour
Elongated or round fruit, green, yellow or striped depending on variety, harvested immature
🪵 Bark
Angular, hairy trailing stem
Thick stem, upright or trailing depending on variety, slightly prickly to the touch
📏 Size
Trailing stems of several metres
Bushy habit or trailing stems several metres long
🗺️ Habitat
Grown in open fields, rich soils
Grown in vegetable gardens, rich, well-drained soils
⚠️ Toxicity
Fruit edible; no known toxicity
Fruit edible; some courgettes grown from poorly selected seed or under stress can accumulate very bitter, toxic cucurbitacins — never eat if the taste is bitter
🔎 And from the Courgette side
The courgette has a hard, angular fruit stalk that stays slender and does not flare where it joins the fruit; the butternut squash has an equally hard and angular stalk, but it flares widely into a star shape at its point of attachment to the fruit.
🌿 Go further
Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.