Water-bottle

The water-bottle , or gourd , is a annual Plante herbaceous of the family of the Cucurbitacées, cultivated like Vegetable for its Fruit, the water-bottle, sometimes consumed in a fresh state like Légume or more often used in a dry state to manufacture various objects.

Scientific name: Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl., family of the Cucurbitaceous , tribe of the Benincaseae .

Common noun: water-bottle, gourd, gourd pèlerine, cougourde, cougourdon, marrow-bottle. of: Flaschenkürbis, in: calabash gourd, bottle gourd, be: calabaza, cajombre .

Description

It is an annual plant, crawling or climbing, with long ramified stems provided with gimlets oarswomen opposed to the sheets. The sheets, alternate, simple, round, are pilous, but soft with the touch.

The flowers monoïques, white, open in the twilight.

Fleshy fruit, of variable form, spherical or lengthened, often resembling a bottle or an amphora, with a reinflated part and a more or less long collar. It can reach 1 m length, even more. The Péricarpe of the fruit is desiccated and lignified with maturity and becomes hard like wood.

Origin and distribution

This species is originating in the tropical areas. Its surface of origin is unknown, in Africa (Zambia), in Thailand or with the Peru, where one found archaeological remainders gone back to 12.000 years before Jesus-Christ, according to the authors.

The culture of this plant and the use of its fruits as containers are very old. It is a plant which is quoted by Pline Old the and which appeared under the name of cucurbita among the vegetables recommended in the Capitulaire De Villis to the Moyen-âge.

Culture

Prefer a fresh ground and piece of furniture, smoked well.

The multiplication is done by sowing, in spring, out of cups, in a place sheltered and maintained with the heat (20 °C); the young seedlings are mended when the risk of cold is not any more to fear and the sufficiently heated ground, about on May 15th.

The growth is very fast. To envisage a training to allow the plant to climb.

The harvest of the young tender fruits intended for consumption is done approximately two months after sowing. the ripe fruits intended to be dried are collected at the end of the season before the frosts of autumn.

Large fruits are cultivated in Africa, for the Mali, in the area which borders the river Niger and are mainly intended for the manufacture of kitchen utensils and the transport of food products and water. The fruit is presented with a diameter which can vary from 150 to 600 mm, once cut into two is emptied of its dry seeds, it is ready with use.

Principal varieties

There exist very many varieties.

Gourd of pilgrim
Gourd siphon
Gourd bludgeon
Gourd of Corsica

Use

The young fruits, of rather insipid taste, prepare as Zucchini S. This vegetable is sutout consumed in India and the Far East. Certain varieties, too bitter because of their content of Cucurbitacine S, are not edible.

The dried fruits are used for the manufacture of various traditional objects, in particular kitchen utensils (containers, gourds, boxes, cases) or musical instruments (Kora, Berimbau, Maracas, Sanza, Sitar inter alia). Among the traditional uses, let us quote the manufacture of cases péniens at certain tribes of New Guinea or Africa. They have also a decorative interest.

The plant is also used as climbing plant decorative to decorate treillised vineyards and arbors.

Other water-bottles

The Calebassier is a large tropical tree of the family of the Bignoniacée S, whose woody fruit is also used as container.

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