Bottle-gourd

Bottle-gourd (Lagenaria, from Lat. larena, 'a bottle'), a sub-genus of Cucurbita (natural order Cucurbitaceæ, q.v.). The Common Bottle-gourd, or False Calabash (C. lagenaria or L. vulgaris), is a native of India, but is now common almost everywhere in warm climates. It is a climbing musky-scented annual, clothed with soft down, having its flowers in clusters, and a large fruit, from 1 to sometimes even 6 feet in length, which is usually shaped like a bottle, an urn, or a club. The fruit has a hard rind, and when the pulp is removed and the rind dried, it is used in many countries for holding water, and is generally called a Calabash (q.v.). In its wild state it is very bitter and poisonous, and even in cultivation some of its varieties exhibit not a little of the bitterness and purgative properties of Colocynth (q.v.). Other varieties, particularly the more luxuriant, however, have a cooling edible pulp. The bottle-gourd appears to have been introduced into Europe about the close of the 16th century, but it requires for its advantageous cultivation a warmer climate than that of Britain. It is, however, much cultivated in warmer countries as an esculent, and its rind lends itself to many domestic uses, often furnishing, for instance, not only bottles and dishes, but spoons and hats. It is grown in some parts of the United States. Another species, L. idololatræa, is a sacred plant of the Hindus, much employed in their religious ceremonies.