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Lagenaria siceraria

Botanic Family

Cucurbitaceae

Author

(Molina) Standley

Common Names

• Bottle Gourd
• Calabash Gourd
• Sugar Trough Gourd
• Hercules' Club
• Dipper
• Knobkerry
• Trumpet Gourd
• Italian Edible Gourd
• White-flowered Gourd
• Cucuzzi
• Zucca Melon
• Lauki (Bhojpuri)
• Chinese Squash
• Fu Kwa
• Kashi
• Dum (Chepang)
• Calabash Cucumber
• Jomatapheng (Lepcha)
• Tembephutra (Limbu)
• Lauka (Magar
• Nepali
• Newari
• Sunwar
• Tamang
• Tharu)
• Wachekalasi (Rai)
• Ka-bed (Tibetan)
• Dolma
• Hu lou (Pinyin)
• Lau (India)
• Mak Nam (Laos)
• Nam Tau (Laos
• Thai)
• Upo (Hawaii)
• Crockneck Gourd
• Cuchara (Spanish)
• Pomoxcat (Totonaco
• Spanish)
• Tecomate (Spanish)
• Toomba (Pakistan)
• Kaddu (Pakistan)
• Vago (Fiji)
• Güiro
• Güicharo
• Marimbo
• Bu (Myanmar)
• Bu-thabeik (Myanmar)
• Charrah (Arabian
• Bonteng-suri (Hindi)
• Waluh
• Labu-eyer (Hindi)
• Kukuk (Hindi)
• Hue (Tahiti)
• Vago (Tahiti)
• Labu Ayer Puteh (Singapore)
• Monkey Apple (English)
• Laushak (Bangladesh)
• Opo Squash
• Long Melon
• Panilau
• Kodulau
• Tikalau
• Ghia
• Gourde de Pélerin (French)
• Businswai (Myanmar)
• Hu Lu (China)
• Urong Ka'dai or Lepo Ga' (Kenyah)
• Cabaceira (Portuguese)
• Alabu (Sanskrit)
• Calabeza Vinatera (Spanish)
• Shorakkai (Tamil)
• Accra Koun (Fon)
• Aklamkpa Kaku or Kaku (Mahi)
• Akluibugula (Gourmantché)
• Atooilè or Yebe or Igba (Holly)
• Batamaé (Dendi)
• Cacaacra or Kaka (Idatcha)
• Egusi Accra or Egusi Ilè or Egusi Kaka or Egusi Ougba (Tchabè)
• Gbaka or Gbesseru or Gboro or Kasonki or Kasoungui or Kokpaki or Kpékonan (Bariba)
• Guchi (Adja)
• Kagoussi (Aizo)
• Kaka Acra or Kaka Aklankpa or Kaka Igba or Kaka Ungba (Ifè)
• Ninnibu or Yanditiré (Waama)
• Toumougou or Tumugu (Boko)
• Calebasse or Courge Blanche or Gourde Massue or Gourde Bouteille (French)
• Common Gourd

Geographical Habitats

• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Congo
• Egypt
• Ethiopia
• Gabon
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea-Bissau
• Gulf of Guinea Islands
• Ivory Coast
• Kenya
• Liberia
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Tanzania
• Togo
• Uganda
• Zaire

Natural Habitats

• Forest
• disturbed areas
• moist thickets
• streamside
• riverside
• coasta
• montane areas.

Flowering Times

• Rainy season Summer Sep

Fruiting Times

• Rainy season Autumn dec

Annual herbaceous monoecious pubescent bifid to 4-fid tendril vine or trailer with 5-angled stems, hairy tendrils to 45mm long. 5-lobed foliage malodorous or musky-scented, puberulous, leaves to 150mm across, more or less 3-7 lobed & toothed. Fascicles of 100mm white to yellow axillary nocturnal hairy flowers, calyx to 20mm long with 5 sepals, whitish corolla with 5 petals, to 40mm long & bottle-shaped or dumbbell shaped, male flowers to 125mm diameter, females smaller. Glabrous or pubescent berry from 75mm to 1800mm long in various shapes, greenish-white or yellow to dark green.

Further References

• Sturtevant 1919
• Menninger 1970
• Bailey 1976
• Beckett 1990
• Huxley 1992
• Rubatzky 1997
• Manandhar 2002
• FOC
• NYBG
• Welw
• Bodkin
• FB
• JPS
• JDH
• The Plant List 2
• VOPR
• USNH
• Botanicus
• FNWNG
• FOTA
• GBS
• HUBM
• Tanziman Ara
• Wiart 2
• Traditional Vegetables in Benin