Synonym: Cucurbita lagenaria; Lagenaria vulgaris.
English: Gourd; Calabash; Calabash gourd; Bottle gourd; White-flowered gourd; Long melon; New Guinea bean; Tasmania bean.
Dutch: Kalebas.
Habitat: tropical, subtropical; well-drained, moist, rich soil; sunny position, sheltered from the wind.
Culture: one of the world's first cultivated plants grown not primarily for food. Gourds were cultivated in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas for thousands of years before Columbus' arrival to the Americas, which is believed to have originated from wild populations in southern Africa, may be source plants and not merely domesticated stands, were reported in Zimbabwe in 2004.
Use: as a vegetable; dried as a utensil; containers.
BotanyVine; stems can reach a length of 9 m.
Flowers: white; male flowers have long peduncles; females have short ones with an ovary in the shape of the fruit.
Fruit: light green smooth skin and white flesh when fresh; huge, rounded, small, bottle shaped, or slim, serpentine; over a metre long.
Pollen: 60 microns.