The Calabash Gourd - Botanical Society of South Africa

gardening with indigenous traditionally-useful plants
The Calabash Gourd
by Phakamani Xaba, SANBI, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and Peter Croeser
This is the sixteenth in a series of articles on indigenous plants that have traditionally
been used by humans in southern Africa for food, medicine, crafts and charms. Some
of these plants are now threatened while others that once formed an important part
of our diet have been forgotten. It is hoped that these articles will help revive an
interest in growing, using and conserving a valuable indigenous resource. Please note
that cited traditional information about medicinal use of plants does not constitute a
recommendation for their use for self-treatment. Improper or uninformed use of wild
plants can be extremely dangerous.
T
he Calabash Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)
can be a tree or fence creeper, or it can
grow along the ground like most other
members of the pumpkin family. It is an annual
with large, rounded, hairy, kidney-shaped
leaves on stalks up to 12 cm long with a pair of
tendrils at the base of the leaf stalk. Each plant
produces both male and female flowers at the
base of the leaf stalks. The large white flowers
open at night. Female flowers are shortstalked with a small gourd fruit at the base
which withers and drops off if the flower is not
fertilized. Male flowers have long stalks (10 cm
or longer). There are many forms, shapes and
varieties of Calabash Gourds, each producing
a different-shaped and sized fruit, from small
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and round to large with an elongate, narrow
neck. The flattened seeds have two flat ribs on
either side. Unlike the five other species in the
genus it is an annual, dying at the end of each
growing season.
Where do we find Calabash Gourds?
Calabash Gourd plants are found and
cultivated in every African country, but
they are not often encountered in the
wild in southern Africa except where it has
escaped from cultivation. In southern Africa,
the Calabash Gourd has been collected in
Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland and the
Limpopo, North-West and Gauteng provinces
of South Africa.
Ecology and pests
In the wild in southern Africa it grows on a
variety of soils, from sand to clay, in different
habitats from flat areas, dry river beds, stony
hillsides, and thickets, to open woodland
and grassland.
Traditional and future uses
The dried hard outer casing of the fruit of the
Calabash Gourd is widely used throughout
Africa for serving, drinking and storing liquids,
storing dried foods and even for fashioning
pipes and musical instruments. In many parts
of Africa the green fruit is sliced and cooked
as a vegetable, although forms with bittertasting fruit are avoided for this purpose. The
young growing shoots are also harvested and
cooked as a spinach (umfino).
The main part used of the Calabash Gourd is
the hard, woody dried rind of the fruit. Smaller,
longer dried fruits are used traditionally by
Zulu-speaking people as ladles (izinkezo), part
of the bulbous end of the fruit being sliced
off for the purpose. Larger gourds are used
for liquid containers, especially for processing
sour milk. Known as igula, these containers
typically have the narrow neck end cut off
and have a small hole drilled into the bottom
which is fitted with a wooden plug. This is for
draining the thin watery whey from the clotted
souring milk curds. Green fruit are sliced and
fried, steamed or boiled as a vegetable in
much the same way we cook baby marrow.
The young shoots and leaves are cooked as
used as spinach. The leaves can also be dried
and stored for later use.
Commercial aspects
Calabash Gourds are grown on a restricted
scale for the commercial curio market. The
main curio items for which they are used are
for resonating boxes for hand xylophones
(thumb pianos) and bottle and ladle gourds
which are decorated with beads.
ABOVE: The dried hard outer casing of the fruit of the Calabash
Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) is widely used for serving, drinking and
storing liquids. This one is from Mt Omavanda, Namibia.
BELOW: Calabash Gourds .
Photos: P. Xaba.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Botanical name: Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.
The genus name Lagenaria comes from lagena, the Latin
name for a narrow-necked flask from the Italian city of
Florence. The specific name, siceraria, is from the word
siccus meaning dry. Both generic and specific names
refer to the fruit which is dried before use.
Family name: The Calabash Gourd belongs in the
melon, gourd and squash (including pumpkin) family
Cucurbitaceae and is African in origin.
Common names: Calabash Gourd, bottle gourd
(English); kalbas (Afrikaans); moraka (North Sotho);
segwana (Tswana); iselwa [plant], izinkezo [a smaller
gourd used as a ladle], igula [a larger gourd used
as a container for making sour milk] (Zulu); mbuyu,
mmumunye, (Swahili).
LEFT: The Calabash Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) belongs to the melon, gourd and squash (including pumpkin) family, Cucurbitaceae,
and is African in origin although not often encountered in the wild.
BELOW: Calabash Gourds (Lagenaria siceraria) growing at Mt Omovanda in Namibia. Photos: P. Xaba.
READING
Van Wyk, B.-E. 2005. Food plants of the world.
Briza, Pretoria.
Van Wyk, B.-E. & Gericke, N. 2000. People’s plants:
a guide to useful plants of southern Africa. Briza,
Pretoria.
An easy guide to growing
ACTIVITY
CALABASH GOURDS
ENVIRONMENT REQUIRED
FOR SUCCESS
TREATMENT
TIME
REMARKS
Seed harvesting
and preparation
The fruits take two to three
months to mature once they
begin developing. They can
usually be harvested at the end
of the summer growing season
when the plant loses most of its
leaves during the period from
March to May.
Store the gourds in the sun to
dry. Only when you hear the
seeds rattle when shaken can
you cut the end and use a wire
loop to remove the seeds and
dried tissue from inside the
gourd.
Remove dry fluff (chuff) and store the seeds in
dated brown paper bags in a cool, dry, insect
free area. Otherwise leave the seeds inside the
uncut calabash in a cool dry area where they
will remain safe from pests until the planting
season.
Seed sowing,
germination and
growing out
Sow directly in the ground
where they are going to grow.
Soak seed in water overnight,
so that they absorb water which
softens the seed coat.
Sow at the start of the summer rainfall
season in September to early December. They
germinate quickly, emerging 4–5 days after
sowing.
Cultivation
They are quick-growing
annuals. They can be grown
on the ground but are usually
trained along a fence facing the
path of the sun. They like plenty
of sunlight and do not grow
well in shady areas.
Calabash Gourd requires little
attention if growing under
normal rainy season conditions.
Watering every three to four
weeks will be necessary during
a dry summer.
Rapid elongation of the growing stems and the Pollination is mainly by bees and butterflies
appearance of tendrils takes place within 2–3 during the day and adult hawk moths in the
weeks of sowing. Growth slows down when the evenings.
flowers begin appearing. The more numerous
male flowers appear 2-3 months after planting,
the female flowers a few weeks later.
Pests in
cultivation
If grown at the wrong season
the plants are very susceptible
to a variety of diseases
including powdery mildew of
the leaves.
Powdery mildew can be prevalent under humid
conditions during summer and can quickly
spread to all seedlings in a nursery net house.
Control is achieved by spraying with copper
oxychloride.
Cleaned seed should be sun-dried for a
short while before storing under cool, dry
air conditions. Viability is lost if left in the
open for longer than a month. There are
approximately 400 seeds/kg.
The gourds protect the seeds from most
pests. Gourds on the ground should be
protected from damp by placing a pad of dry
grass under the gourd. Damp will discolour
the gourd with black blotches.
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