Calabash Tree

Calabash Tree (Crescentia cujete), a small tree belonging to the Bignoniaceæ (q.v.), common in tropical America, but said to have been introduced from Guinea. The wood of the tree is tough and flexible, but by far the most useful part is the hard shell of the fruit, which, under the name of calabash, is much used in place of bottles for holding liquids, and for goblets, cups, water-cans, &c., and in fact furnishes most of the domestic utensils of the natives. These shells may even be used as kettles for boiling liquids, and they will bear this several times without being destroyed. They are sometimes polished, carved, and dyed, and otherwise ornamented. The rinds of gourds are sometimes similarly used, and called calabashes.