Latin Meaning: The name Clarissa is a Latin baby name. In Latin the meaning of the name Clarissa is: The Latinized form of the English Clarice, meaning famous. Famous bearer: Samuel Richardson's 18th century novel 'Clarissa Harlowe'.
The Spanish explorer, Francisco Pizarro, discovered winter squashes in Peru and brought seeds back to an unenthusiastic citizenry in his country. Archeologists uncovered stems, skins, and seeds of summer squashes in the caves of the Tamaulipas Mountains of Mexico dating back between 7,000 and 5,000 BCE.
As any vegetable grower will tell you, there are a baffling number of different species of squash or 'Cucurbita' to use their grouped botanical name. The most common species grown in the UK is 'Curcurbita Pepo' and includes the courgette, marrow and certain pumpkins.ll squashes owe their lineage to the new-world, and the early Spanish invaders in the 16th Century were the first to bring them over to Europe. However it seems that it was the Italians who first decided to eat immature marrows, or as they called them, the Zucchini.