# Calabash
**Calabash** is a common name most often applied to the bottle gourd, *Lagenaria siceraria* (Molina) Standl., a climbing annual cucurbit grown for its young edible fruits and for the hard, waterproof shells of its mature fruits, which are made into containers, musical instruments, and decorative objects[1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information). The name is also used for the true calabash tree, *[Crescentia cujete](https://www.edgepedia.org/crescentia-cujete)*, a member of the [Bignoniaceae](https://www.edgepedia.org/bignoniaceae) whose similar hard-shelled fruits serve the same purposes; the two plants are unrelated[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | *Lagenaria siceraria* (Molina) Standl., first published in 1930; family Cucurbitaceae[1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information) |
| Native range | West Tropical Africa to Ethiopia and Tanzania; a climbing annual of the seasonally dry tropical biome[1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information) |
| Fruit | Large, subglobose to cylindrical, often bottle-shaped, up to 1 m long and 20 cm across, green and turning yellowish when mature[1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information) |
| Historic reach | Probably the only crop known to both the Old and New Worlds since prehistoric times; remains are known from Mexico, Peru, and ancient Egyptian tombs[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553) |
| Food uses | Young fruits eaten as a boiled vegetable; leaves, shoots, seeds, and seed oil also used for food[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553) • [3](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.683635/full) |
| Toxicity risk | Bitter fruits accumulate cucurbitacins, toxic tetracyclic triterpenoids; documented poisonings have followed bitter bottle gourd juice[4](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3307184/) |
| Modern agronomy | Grown as a rootstock to improve the yield and quality of cultivated watermelon[5](https://cucurbit.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CGC46_completereport.pdf) |
## Plant description
The bottle gourd is a monoecious climbing or trailing annual herb, with stems reaching about 4.5 m, large soft leaves, and solitary white flowers borne in the leaf axils[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553) • [1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information). The large white flowers open in the evening, and fruit set is improved by hand pollination[6](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lagenaria-siceraria/). Fruits are extremely variable in shape, including club-shaped, globular, bottle-shaped, pear-shaped, cylindrical, and elongated forms; shape largely determines whether a fruit is grown for food or for utensils and decoration[3](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.683635/full). The genus name derives from the Greek *lagenos*, meaning vase or flask[6](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lagenaria-siceraria/).
The species is accepted under the name *Lagenaria siceraria* (Molina) Standl., published in 1930, and was formerly treated as *Lagenaria vulgaris*[1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information) • [2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553). Kew's Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions classify it as not threatened, with high confidence[1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information).
## Domestication and spread
The bottle gourd is one of the oldest domesticated plants in the world, possibly the oldest[7](https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.3732/ajb.1400145). Wild populations are known only in Africa, and the species' native range runs from West Tropical Africa to Ethiopia and Tanzania[7](https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.3732/ajb.1400145) • [1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information).
Understanding how it reached the Americas was a long-standing puzzle, because its domestic use there predates the [Columbian exchange](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbian-exchange)[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553). Direct radiocarbon dating of cucurbit remains from Coxcatlan Cave in the Tehuacán Valley of Puebla, Mexico, placed the bottle gourd at 7,200 calibrated years before present[8](https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/9025/). An ancient DNA study published in 2005 concluded that Paleoindians had carried already domesticated Asian gourds into the Americas, but a 2014 analysis by Kistler and colleagues of living and archaeological gourds reversed that result, indicating an African origin and introduction by transoceanic drift of floating fruits, with domestication proceeding in a diffuse pattern across the gourd's New World range[7](https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.3732/ajb.1400145). The fruits are capable of floating in sea water for long periods, which makes drift from tropical Africa to Brazil plausible[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553).
The gourd reached Asia at a very early date, and the Maori took it to New Zealand around the 12th century[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553). Archaeological evidence for its cultivation and use in Asia goes back about 11,000 years, and it has been described as possibly the earliest domesticated plant[7](https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.3732/ajb.1400145).
## Uses
**Containers and utensils.** The plant is usually cultivated for the hard rind of the mature fruit, which is harvested fully ripe, hollowed out through an opening, and dried[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553). The mature shells are waterproof and serve as bottles, bowls, water and palm-wine vessels, food containers, floats for fishing nets, and rice-cleaning utensils[6](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lagenaria-siceraria/) • [9](https://www.horniman.ac.uk/object/ARC/HMG/RS/STANFIELD/542/015/). In South Africa, dried fruits with a neck length of 8 to 15 cm are valued for serving traditional sorghum-brewed beer or water[3](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.683635/full).
**Music and ceremony.** In Nigeria, calabashes are made into rattles known as *sekere* among the Yoruba and *ichaka* among the Igbo and Idoma[9](https://www.horniman.ac.uk/object/ARC/HMG/RS/STANFIELD/542/015/). In [Burkina Faso](https://www.edgepedia.org/burkina-faso), the calabash bowl, bushel gourd, and gourd ladle play a fundamental role in funeral rites and traditional music during mourning ceremonies and customary festivals; the calabash bowl recorded a use value of 2.5 and five distinct uses in an ethnobotanical survey[10](https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/12/6178).
**Food.** Young fruits are eaten as a boiled vegetable, though they turn bitter during ripening[2](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553). Leaves, shoots, flowers, seeds, and young stems are also edible[6](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lagenaria-siceraria/). The seed is nutritionally dense: analyses report crude protein of 35.0 g per 100 g, crude fat of 47.8 g per 100 g, and oil content up to 35 percent, with linoleic acid at 63.32 percent of total fatty acids[3](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.683635/full). In India the vegetable is popularly known as lauki, ghia, or dudhi, and in Ayurveda it is advocated for diabetes, hypertension, liver diseases, and weight loss[4](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3307184/).
**Rootstock.** Bottle gourd is used as a rootstock for commercial watermelon production, and positive effects of bottle gourd rootstocks on watermelon fruit quality have been reported[5](https://cucurbit.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CGC46_completereport.pdf).
## Toxicity
Domesticated cucurbits are bred to contain minimal cucurbitacins, but under conditions such as over-ripeness, improper storage, environmental stress, or genetic variation, bottle gourds can accumulate these bitter, cytotoxic tetracyclic triterpenoids[11](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391580416_Bottle_Gourd_-_A_Poison_in_Disguise/fulltext/681da07760241d51402616a2/Bottle-Gourd-A-Poison-in-Disguise.pdf) • [12](https://www.livescience.com/health/food-diet/diagnostic-dilemma-a-womans-homemade-juice-led-to-life-threatening-toxic-squash-syndrome). In June 2010, a 59-year-old man died in Delhi and his wife was hospitalized after drinking a mix of bottle gourd and bitter gourd juice; the case was raised in the Indian Parliament and an expert committee of the [Indian Council of Medical Research](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-council-of-medical-research) was constituted to investigate[4](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3307184/). Reported symptoms of toxicity include sudden weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and dangerously low blood pressure[12](https://www.livescience.com/health/food-diet/diagnostic-dilemma-a-womans-homemade-juice-led-to-life-threatening-toxic-squash-syndrome). Bitterness is suspected to correlate with cucurbitacin concentration and toxicity, though the literature does not definitively support this[12](https://www.livescience.com/health/food-diet/diagnostic-dilemma-a-womans-homemade-juice-led-to-life-threatening-toxic-squash-syndrome).
## Cultivation and breeding
The bottle gourd grows best in sandy or loamy, well-drained soil in full sun, seeded outdoors after frost danger has passed and ground temperature reaches 70 degrees [Fahrenheit](https://www.edgepedia.org/fahrenheit), with mounds 3 feet apart on supports or 4 to 6 feet apart for trailing vines[6](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lagenaria-siceraria/). Fruit shape is genetically controlled: oval and pear shapes involve one dominant and one recessive gene, round shape is controlled by two recessive genes, and long shape is dominant[3](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.683635/full). In sub-Saharan Africa the crop is grown predominantly by smallholder farmers using genetically diverse landraces, and no improved cultivars have been released in the region for food, feed, value-adding, or watermelon rootstock use[3](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.683635/full). In Burkina Faso, the species' decline has been associated with its long production cycle, the fragility of the pericarp, competition with alternative products, and socio-cultural restrictions limiting cultivation and knowledge transmission[10](https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/12/6178).
## Names
The species carries an unusually large set of vernacular names. In Colombia alone, a national inventory records nearly fifty common names, including calabazo, camazo, mate, totumo sabanero, and tula[1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information). English names include bottle gourd, calabash, white gourd, and white pumpkin[1](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information). In Japan, varieties called bottle gourd, gourd, and calabash (yūgao, ユウガオ) are cultivated[13](https://www.hokeniryo1.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/shokuhin/eng/dokusou/28.html).
## References
1. [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl., Plants of the World Online, Kew Science](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A134809-2/general-information)
2. [Lagenaria siceraria, Useful Plants: An Introduction to Economic Botany, Naturalis Biodiversity Center](https://useful-plants.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/taxon.php?epi=202&id=127553)
3. [Mkhize, P.M., Mashilo, J.M., Shimelis, H. (2021). Progress on Genetic Improvement and Analysis of Bottle Gourd for Agronomic Traits, Nutrient Compositions, and Stress Tolerance: A Review. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.683635/full)
4. [Assessment of effects on health due to consumption of bitter bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) juice, Indian Journal of Medical Research 135 (2012)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3307184/)
5. [Status and Prospects of Lagenaria siceraria (Bottle Gourd) Landraces in Tunisia, Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 46 (2023)](https://cucurbit.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CGC46_completereport.pdf)
6. [Lagenaria siceraria, North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lagenaria-siceraria/)
7. [Agricultural origins from the ground up: Archaeological approaches to plant domestication, American Journal of Botany (2014)](https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.3732/ajb.1400145)
8. [Smith, B.D. (2005). Reassessing Coxcatlan Cave and the early history of domesticated plants in Mesoamerica](https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/9025/)
9. [Burning a design into a calabash, Lagos, Horniman Museum and Gardens](https://www.horniman.ac.uk/object/ARC/HMG/RS/STANFIELD/542/015/)
10. [Ethnovariety Diversity, Endogenous Sustainable Management Strategies, and Socio-Cultural Services of Calabash in Burkina Faso, Sustainability 18 (2025)](https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/12/6178)
11. [Bottle Gourd: A Poison in Disguise (case report, 2024)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391580416_Bottle_Gourd_-_A_Poison_in_Disguise/fulltext/681da07760241d51402616a2/Bottle-Gourd-A-Poison-in-Disguise.pdf)
12. [Diagnostic dilemma: A woman's homemade juice led to life-threatening 'toxic squash syndrome', Live Science (2025)](https://www.livescience.com/health/food-diet/diagnostic-dilemma-a-womans-homemade-juice-led-to-life-threatening-toxic-squash-syndrome)
13. [Bottle gourd (Cucurbitaceae), Tokyo Food Safety Information Center](https://www.hokeniryo1.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/shokuhin/eng/dokusou/28.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Plants and algae › Seed plants › Other flowering plants › Rosids › Malpighiales, Myrtales, and Brassicales*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license