PUBLISHED IN: Publications of the Field Columbian Museum, Botanical Series 3: 435. 1930.

TYPE: Chile, Molina s.n., info fide Keraudren (1990), perhaps destroyed.

ETYMOLOGY:

BASIONYM: Cucurbita siceraria Molina, Saggio sulla Storia Naturale cel Chili… 133. 1782.

SYNONYMY: Cucurbita idolatrica Willd., Species Plantarum Editio quarta 4: 607. 1805.
     Cucurbita lagenaria L., Species Plantarum 2: 1010. 1753. Type: “Habitat in Americae riguis.” sine leg. (herb. non desig.) Keraudren (1990) cites holotype: LINN 1151.1, a plant cultivated in Uppsala.
     Cucurbita leucantha Duchesne ex Lam., Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique 2(1): 150. 1786.
     Cucurbita siceraria Molina, Saggio sulla Storia Naturale cel Chili… 133. 1782.
     Lagenaria idolatrica (Willd.) Ser. ex Cogn., Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 3: 299. 1828. Basionym: Cucurbita idolatrica Willd., Species Plantarum. Editio quarta 4: 607. 1805.
     Lagenaria lagenaria (L.) Cockerell, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 19: 95. 1892. Annotation: nom. inval., autonym. Basionym: Cucurbita lagenaria L., Species Plantarum 2: 1010. 1753
     Lagenaria leucantha (Duchesne ex Lam.) Rusby, Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club 6: 43. 1896.
     Lagenaria vulgaris Ser., Mémoires de la Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève 3(1): 25, t. 2. 1825.
     Lagenaria longissima hort.

INFRASPECIFIC TAXA: Lagenaria siceraria var. depressa (Ser.) H. Hara, Botanical Magazine 61: 5. 1948. Basionym: Lagenaria vulgaris var. depressa Ser., Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 3: 299. 1828.
     Lagenaria siceraria var. laevisperma Millán, Darwiniana 7: 196. 1946. Holotype: Uruguay, Rosengurtt s.n. (SI).
     Lagenaria siceraria var. microcarpa (Naudin) H. Hara, Botanical Magazine 61: 5. 1948. Basionym: Lagenaria microcarpa Naudin, Revue Horticole, sér. 4, 4: 65. 1855.

VERNACULAR NAME: bottle gourd

OTHER VERNACULAR NAMES: calabash, white-flowered gourd, birdhouse gourd, hardshell gourd, edible gourd, long squash
     Arabic: qar'a, dubb'a
     Chinese: pul qua, bian pu, hu zi, hu lu, hu tzu
     Congo: lenduma
     Danish: flaskegræskar, kalabas
     Dutch: fleskalebas, flessepompoen
     French: calebasse, courge bouteille, calebassier, gourde
     German: Flaschen-Kürbis, Trompetenkürbis, kalebassenkürbis
     Hausa: duma
     Hebrew: qara
     Hindi: dudhi or dudi, kaddis, kaddu, lauki or louki or lokhi, ghia or ghiya, tumri
     Italian: zucca da vino, zucca da nuoto, zucca bottiglia, cucuzzi
     Japanese: yougao, maru-yougao, hyoutan
     Malay: labu putin, labu botol
     Portuguese: cabaçca, colombro, abóbora carneira
     Spanish: calabaza de peregrinos, calabaza de San Roque, calabaza viñatera, calabaza viñadera, cojombro
     Spanish (Bolivia): mate, porongo
     Spanish (Mexico): bule, acocotli, lek
     Spanish (Peru): mati, chucña, yumi
     Spanish (Paraguay): duchubire
     Tagalog: upo

CULTIVARS: ‘cucuzzi’ and ‘opo squash’

DESCRIPTION:

CHROMOSOME NUMBER: 2n = 22.

DISTRIBUTION: Pantropics

ECOLOGY:

EDIBLE USE: Immature fruit and tender shoots and leaves eaten. ‘Cucuzzi’ is an edible cultivar from Italy. ‘Opo squash’ is an edible cultivar from Southeast Asia.

MEDICINAL USE: A purgative.

OTHER USE: Mature fruit with tough pericarp traditionally used for household utensils, such as various containers and dippers. Also used for siphon, fishnet floats, purple martin houses, penis-sheaths (New Guinea), masks, decorations and art objects, and numerous diverse musical instruments. “Acocote” is a siphon made from a large variety of Lagenaria that is used to extract juice from the maguey plant in Mexico.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE: Cultivated 8000 years ago. In modern times it has been replaced by plastics and other synthetic and natural materials, except in poorer regions and among gourd societies.

CONSERVATION:

CULTIVATION PRACTICES:

SEEDS AVAILABLE FROM:

LITERATURE: Chakravarty, H. L. 1968. A new species of African Lagenaria (Cucurbitaceae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 55: 69–72.
     de Sornay, P. 1923. Les cucurbitacées tropicales: La calebasse (Lagenaria vulgaris Ser.). Agron. Colon. 9: 37–45.
     Dodge, E. S. 1943. Gourd Growers of the South Seas; an Introduction to the Study of the Lagenaria gourd in the Culture of the Polynesians. Boston: The Gourd Society of America.
     Dodge, E. S. 1978. Hawaiian and Other Polynesian Gourds. Honolulu: Topgallant Publishing Co.
     Heiser, C. B. 1973. Variation in the bottle gourd. in Meggers, B. J., E. S. Ayensu, & W. D. Duckworth, eds. Tropical Forest Ecosystems in Africa and S. America: A Comparative Review. 121–128. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Inst. Press.
     Heiser, C. B. 1973. The penis gourd of New Guinea. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 63: 312–318.
     Martin, F. W. 1979. Vegetables for the hot, humid tropics. Part 4. Sponge and bottle gourds, Luffa and Lagenaria. 19 pages. New Orleans: Agricultural Research (Southern Region), U.S. Department of Agriculture.
     Mordecai, C. 1978. Gourd Craft; Growing Designing, and Decorating Ornamental and Hardshelled Gourds. 212 p. Mt. Gilead, Ohio: American Gourd Society.
     Richardson, J. B. 1972. The pre-Columbian distribution of the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria): A re-evaluation. Econ. Bot. 26: 265–273.
     Summit, G. and J. Widess. 1996. The Complete Book of Gourd Craft: 22 Projects, 55 Decorative Techniques, 300 Inspirational Designs. 144 p. Asheville, North Carolina: Lark Books.
     Summit, G. 1998. Gourds in your Garden: A Guidebook for the Home Gardener. 128 p. Los Altos, Calif.: Hillway Press.
     Summit, G. and J. Widess. 1999. Making Gourd Musical Instruments: Over 60 String, Wind & Percussion Instruments, and How to Play Them. 144 p. New York: Sterling Publishing Co.
     Whitaker, T. W. 1948. Lagenaria: a pre-Columbian cultivated plant in the Americas. Southw. J. Anthropol. 4: 49–68.
     Whitaker, T. W. and G. F. Carter. 1954. Oceanic drift of gourds: Experimental observations. Amer. J. Bot. 41 (9): 697–701.
     Whitaker, T. W. and G. F. Carter. 1961. A note on the longevity of seed of Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl. after floating in sea water. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 88: 104–106.
     Whitaker, T. W. 1970. Lagenaria in Ghana. Gourd Seed 31 (3): 28.
     Whitaker, T. W. 1971. Endemism and pre-Columbian migration of the Bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl. Pages 320–327 in Riley, C. L., J. C. Kelley, C. W. Pennington, & R. L. Rands, ed. Man Across the Sea: Problems of Pre-Columbian Contacts. Austin: University of Texas Press.

INTERNET: The American Gourd Socirty, Kokomo, Indiana.