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This article is about the vine. For the tree, see Crescentia and Crescentia cujete. For other uses, see Calabash (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Calabaza. ‹See Tfd›
Lagenaria siceraria
Courge encore verte.jpg
Green calabash on the vine
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Lagenaria
Species: L. siceraria
Binomial name
Lagenaria siceraria
(Molina) Standl.
  • Cucurbita lagenaria (L.) L.
  • Lagenaria vulgaris Ser.
Bottle gourd seeds .
Lagenaria siceraria var peregrina
Calabash flower.
Lagenaria siceraria "geese", Granville Island Public Market, Canada.

The calabash, Lagenaria siceraria (synonym Lagenaria vulgaris Ser.), also known as opo squash, bottle gourd or long melon, is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. The fresh fruit has a light green smooth skin and a white flesh. Rounder varieties are called calabash gourds. They come in a variety of shapes: they can be huge and rounded, small and bottle shaped, or slim and serpentine, more than a metre long.

The calabash was one of the first cultivated plants in the world, grown not primarily for food, but for use as a water container. The bottle gourd may have been carried from Africa to Asia, Europe and the Americas in the course of human migration,[1] or by seeds floating across the oceans inside the gourd. It has been proven to be in the New World prior to the arrival of Columbus.[2] It shares its common name with that of the calabash tree (Crescentia cujete).

Origin and dispersal[edit]

It is a commonly cultivated plant in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, now believed by some to have spread or originated from wild populations in southern Africa. Stands of Lagenaria siceraria that may be source plants, and not merely domesticated stands run wild, were reported recently in Zimbabwe.[3] This apparent domestication source plant produces thinner-walled fruit that, when dried, would not endure the rigors of use on long journeys as a water container. Today's calabash may owe its tough, waterproof wall to selection pressures over its long history of domestication.[4]


Calabash had been cultivated in Asia, Europe and the Americas for thousands of years before Columbus' discovery of America. Historically, in Europe,[5] Walahfrid Strabo (808–849), abbot and poet from Reichenau, advisor to the Carolingian kings, discussed it in his Latin Hortulus as one of the 23 plants of an ideal garden.[6][7]

Recent research indicates some can have an African origin and at least two unrelated domestications: one 8–9 thousand years ago, based on the analysis of archeological samples found in Asia, a second, four thousand years ago, traced from archeological discoveries in Egypt.

The mystery of the calabash – namely that this African or Eurasian species was being grown in America over 8,000 years ago[8] – came about from the difficulty in understanding how it came to be on the American continent.

Calabash was originally was thought to have drifted across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to North and South America. But genetic research on archeological samples published by the National Academy of Sciences in December 2005 suggested that calabash may have been domesticated earlier than food crops and livestock and, like dogs, were brought into the New World at the end of the ice age by the Paleo-Indians. This study showed that calabash found in American archaeological finds appeared closer to Asian calabash variants than to African ones.[9]

In February 2014, the original hypothesis was revived based on a more thorough genetic study. Researchers examined the entire genome, including the plasmid genome and concluded that American specimens were most closely related to wild African variants and could have drifted over the ocean several or many times as long as 10,000 years ago.[10]


The English word calabash comes from Spanish calabaza with the same meaning. The origin of the Spanish word is obscure. It is possibly from Arabic qar'a yabisa "dry gourd", from Persian kharabuz, used of various large melons; or the Spanish may have come from a pre-Roman Iberian calapaccia.[11]

Occasional toxicity[edit]

Like other members of the Cucurbitaceae family, calabashes contain cucurbitacins that are known to be cytotoxic at a high concentration. The tetracyclic triterpenoid cucurbitacins present in fruits and vegetables of the cucumber family, are responsible for the bitter taste, and could cause ulcers in the stomach. In extreme cases, people have died from drinking calabash juice.[12][13][14] The toxic cases are usually due to the gourd being used to make juice, which the drinkers attested to being unusually bitter.[15] And in the three lethal cases, the victims were all diabetics in their 50s and 60s.[15]


To avoid poisoning, it is advised to:[15]

  2. Discard all excessively bitter calabash gourd or juice
  3. Not mix calabash juice with other juices, such as that of bitter gourd, so as not to mask calabash's taste if it has gone bad

Culinary uses[edit]

Calabash, cooked, no salt
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 63 kJ (15 kcal)
3.69 g
Dietary fiber 1.2 g
0.02 g
0.6 g
Thiamine (B1)
0.029 mg
Riboflavin (B2)
0.022 mg
Niacin (B3)
0.39 mg
0.144 mg
Vitamin B6
0.038 mg
Folate (B9)
4 μg
Vitamin C
8.5 mg
Trace metals
24 mg
0.25 mg
11 mg
0.066 mg
13 mg
170 mg
2 mg
0.7 mg

Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient Database
Upo (bottle gourd or Calabash) with sotanghon

In India, it is known as lauki (लौकी / લૌકી), dudhi (दूदी / દૂદી) or ghiya (घीया / ઘીયા) in Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati/Marathi; Laau (ଲାଉ)in Oriya; aal (आल) in Marwari; churakka (ചുരക്ക) in Malayalam; jatilao in Assamese; lau (লাউ) in Bengali; sorakaaya (సొర కాయ) or anapakaya in Telugu; dudhi-Bhopala (दुधी भोपळा) in Marathi; sorekayi (ಸೋರೆಕಾಯಿ) in Kannada; sajmain in Maithili and Labu in Sinhalese and suraikkaai (சுரைக்காய் colloquilly sorakkay) in Tamil. A popular north indian dish is lauki channa, (channa dal and diced gourd in a semidry gravy). In the state of Maharashtra in India, a preparation similar to Lauki channa is popular. However, the skin is removed prior to making the dish. The skin can be used in making a Chutney preparation.

The calabash, as a vegetable, is frequently used in southern Chinese cuisine as either a stir-fry or in a soup. The Chinese name for calabash is hulu (simplified Chinese: 葫芦; traditional Chinese: 葫蘆; pinyin: húlu) or huzi (Chinese: 葫子; pinyin: húzi) in Mandarin. Two common kinds of calabash sold in Chinese stores are the "Opo" kind, which is elongated but still plump, and "Mao Gua" which is very similar to Opo, but it has hairs, as its Chinese name references, which translates to "Hairy Squash". The hairs, although small, can get embedded in the skin, but it is usually safe for adults to handle.

In Japan, the species is known as hyōtan (瓢箪, 瓢簞?) or yūgao (夕顔?), with the former word referring particularly to the larger-fruiting variety whose fruits are used mostly for making containers or other handicrafts and the latter referring to the smaller-fruiting variety whose fruits are more edible. Names used to refer particularly to the fruit of one or another variety of this species include fukube (瓠, 瓢, ふくべ?) and hisago (瓠, 匏, 瓢, ひさご?). It is most commonly sold in the form of dried, marinated strips known as kanpyō, and is commonly used as an ingredient for making makizushi (rolled sushi).

In Korea, it is known as bak (박) or jorongbak (조롱박).

In Burma, it is known as ဗူးသီး boo thee, a popular fruit; young leaves are also boiled and eaten with spicy hot, fermented fish sauce called nga peet. In the Philippines, it is known as upo. In Italian cuisine, it is known as cucuzza (plural cucuzze).

In Central America, the seeds of the calabash gourd are toasted and ground with other ingredients (including rice, cinnamon, and allspice) to make the drink horchata. (The calabash tree, Crescentia cujete, is known locally as morro or jícaro; that is another "calabash"). In Colombia and Venezuela, the calabash tree Crescentia cujete is known as a taparo or totumo (it is another "calabash" plant).

In Pakistan, the green Calabash is known as Lauki while the yellow variety is known as kaddu in Urdu.

In Bangladesh, it is called lau (লাউ). In Nepali, it is called lauka (लौका). In Arabic, it is called qara. In Aramaic, it is called qura. In the Talmudic period the young were boiled, whilst the mature fruit are eaten as desert. The tender young gourd is cooked as a summer squash. In Vietnam, it is called bầu canh or bầu nậm, and is used in a variety of dishes: boiled, stir-fried, soup dishes and as a medicine.


Cultural uses[edit]


Calabash is used in many string instruments in India as a resonator. Instruments that look like guitars are made of wood but they can have a calabash resonator at the end of the strings table called toomba. The sitar, the surbahar, the tanpura (south of India, tambura north of India), may have a toomba. In some cases the toomba may not be functional but if the instrument is large it keeps its place because of its balance function, that is the case of the Saraswati veena. Other instruments like Rudra Veena and vichitra veena have 2 large calabash resonators at both ends of the strings table. The Baul singers of Bengal have their musical instruments made out of calabash. The practice is also common among Buddhist and Jain sages.[17]

These toombas are made of dried calabash gourds, using special cultivars that were originally imported from Africa and Madagascar. They are mostly grown in Bengal and near Miraj, Maharashtra. These gourds are valuable items and they are carefully tended, for example sometimes they are given injections to stop worms and insects from making holes while they are drying, etc.



The Caribbean[edit]

Calabash is primarily used for utensils, such as cups, bowls, and basins in rural areas. It can be used for carrying water or can be made for carrying items, such as fish, when fishing. In some Caribbean countries, it is worked, painted and decorated as shoulder bags or other items by artisans, and sold to tourists. In Jamaica, it is also a reference to the natural lifestyle of Rastafarians. As a cup, bowl, or even water-pipe or "bong", the calabash is considered consistent with the "Ital" or vital lifestyle of not using refined products such as table salt, or using modern cooking methods, such as microwaves. In Haiti, the plant is called kalbas kouran, literally "running calabash", and is used to make the sacred rattle emblematic of the Vodou priesthood, called an asson. As such, the plant is highly respected. It is also the national tree of St. Lucia.


Calabashes (nkalu in Kikongo) are used to collect and store palm wine in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo


A Malian kora player with his Kora (Toumani Diabaté).



Note that "jícara" refers to the Crescentia cujete calabash


Costa Rica[edit]

Note that "guacal" in Costa Rica refers to Crescentia cujete tree calabash.



South America[edit]

In Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, calabash gourds are dried and carved into mates (Quichua word, adopted in Spanish language), the traditional container for the popular caffeinated tea-like drink brewed from the yerba mate plant (the container called cuia, porongo or cabaça in Brazil). In the same region is called mate also the calabash from where the drinking vessels are made, and in Peru (where the practice of drinking mate is not adopted) is a popular practice the making of mate burilado, "burilado" is the technique adopted for decorating the mate calabashes. In Brazil, gourds also commonly used as the resonator for the berimbau, the signature instrument of capoeira, a martial art/dance developed in Brazilian plantations by African slaves. The calabash gourd is possibly mankind's oldest instrument resonator.


Bowls made of calabash were used by Indigenous Brazilians as utensils made to serve food, and the practice is still retained in some remote areas of Brazil (originally by populations of various ethnicities, origins and regions, but nowadays mainly the indigenes themselves).


Note that "totuma" refers to the vessel made of Crescentia cujete calabash.

The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has suggested Venezuelans avoid showers longer than three minutes.[26][27] Critics of Chavez have ridiculed this by reductio ad absurdum, ironically suggesting the use of a totuma to bathe (although Chavez himself did not suggest this).,[28][29] inferring that people has to bathe with "a totuma of water", the quantity of water that only one totuma can hold. It's a joke because it's exaggeratting the original words, because a totuma is a device that carries very little quantity of water, not enough for bathing (not even to get wet). This reaction is usual in all countries, compare U.S. President Jimmy Carter's speech urging Americans to conserve energy during the US 1979 energy crisis and negative reaction by his critics.[30]


The hulu is an ancient symbol for health.

A Qing dynasty cricket cage
A bottle gourd


Hulusi is a kind of flute.




Other uses[edit]



  1. ^ Erickson, David L.; Smith, Bruce D.; Clarke, Andrew C.; Sandweiss, Daniel H.; Tuross, Noreen. "An Asian origin for a 10,000-year-old domesticated plant in the Americas". PNAS 102 (51): 18315–18320 date = 20 December 2005. doi:10.1073/pnas.0509279102. PMC 1311910. PMID 16352716. Retrieved 17 November 2009. 
  3. ^ Decker-Walters, D.S.; Wilkins-Ellert, M.; Chung, S.-M.; Staub, J.E. (2004). Discovery and genetic assessment of wild bottle gourd [ Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standley, Cucurbitaceae] from Zimbabwe. – Economic Botany 58. pp. 501–508. 
  4. ^ Decker-Walters, D.S.; Wilkins-Ellert, M.; Chung, S.-M.; Staub, J.E. (2005). Reconstructing the Origins and Dispersal of the Polynesian Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria). Proceedings of the SMBE Tri-National Young Investigators' Workshop 2004. pp. 58, 501–508. 
  6. ^ Strabo, Walahfrid; Näf,W.; és Gabathuler,M. (ford.) (2000). De cultura hortorum (in Latin and German). ISBN 3-7995-3504-7. 
  9. ^ Erickson, David L.; Smith, Bruce D.; Clarke, Andrew C.; Sandweiss, Daniel H.; Tuross, Noreen (2005). An Asian origin for a 10,000-year-old domesticated plant in the Americas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 
  11. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved on 2013-08-16.
  12. ^ Adhyaru-Majithia, Priya (13 March 2010). "Not all bitter veggies are good, they can kill you: Doctors". DNA (Bhaskar Group). Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 9 July 2010. 
  13. ^ Chandra, Neetu (9 July 2010). "Toxin in lauki kills diabetic city scientist". India Today (Living Media). Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 9 July 2010. 
  14. ^ "Bitter 'lauki' juice can kill you". Times of india (Living Media). 28 June 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2010. 
  18. ^ sitar
  19. ^
  20. ^ a b
  21. ^ Daily Music. Tambura/tanpura.
  22. ^ image at Joseph Opala, "Origin of the Gullah",
  26. ^ "No more singing in the shower: Chavez urges Venezuelans to limit their wash to three minutes amid water shortages". Daily Mail (London). 22 October 2009. 
  27. ^ Chavez y el comunismo on YouTube
  29. ^ Como hacer Totuma-Ducha comunista on YouTube
  30. ^ Energy policy - Jimmy Carter - domestic, foreign. Retrieved on 2013-08-16.

External links[edit]