PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 245 



Gourd,^ or Calabash — Lagenaria vulgaris, Seringe ; 

 Cucurhita lagenaria, Linnaeus. 



The fruit of this Curciibitacea has taken different 

 forms in cultivation, but from a general observ-ation of 

 the other parts of the plant, botanists have lanked them 

 in one species which comprises several varieties"^ The 

 most remarkable are the ^^////rij^i's gourd, in the form of 

 a bottle, the long-necked gourd, the trumpet gourd, and 

 the calabash, generally large and without a neck. Other 

 less common varieties have a flattened, very small fruit, 

 like the snuff-box gourd. The species may always be 

 recognized by its white flower, and by the hardness of 

 the outer rind of the fruit, which allows of its use as a 

 vessel for liquids, or a reservoir of air suitable as a buoy 

 for novices in swimmino^. The flesh is sometimes sweet 

 and eatable, sometimes bitter and even purgative. 



Linn?eus^ pronounced the species to be American. 

 De Candolle^ thought it was probably of Indian origin, 

 and this opinion has since been confirmed. 



Lagenaria vulgaris has been found wild on the 

 coast of Malabar and in the humid forests of Deyra Doon.^ 

 Roxburgh ^ considered it to be wild in India, although 

 subsequent floras give it only as a cultivated species. 

 Lastly, Rumphius "^ mentions wild plants of it on the sea- 

 shore in one of the Moluccas. Authors generally note 

 that the pulp is bitter in the.se wild plants, but this is 

 sometimes the case in cultivated forms. The Sanskrit 

 language already distinguished the common go\\vd,idavou, 

 and another, bitter, hidou-toumbi, to which Pictet also 

 attributes the name tiJdaka or tiktika.^ Seemann ^ saw 



* The word gourd is also used in English for Cucurhita inaximo. 

 This is one of the examples of the confusiou in common names and the 

 greater accuracy of scientific terms. 



* Naudin, Annales des Sc. Nat., 4th series, vol. xii. p, 91 ; Cogniaux, 

 in our Monog. Phan€rog., iii. p. 417. 



' Linnceus, Species Planiarum, p. 1434, under Cucurhita. 



* A. P. de CaudoUe, Flora Franqaise (1805), vol. iii. p. 002. 

 ' Eheede, Ilalahar, iii. pis. 1, 5; Royle, III. Himal., p. 218. 

 « Roxburgh, Fl. hid., edit. 1832, voL iii. p. 719. 



^ Rumphius, Amhnin, vol. v. p. 397, t. 144. 



* Piddington, Jnde.r, at the word Cucurhita lagenaria; Ad. Pictet, 

 Origines Indo-Europ., edit. 3, vol. i. p. 386. 



® Seemann, Flora Vitiensis, p. 106, 



