Lagenaria siceraria Seeds | Bottle Gourd
LATIN NAME: Lagenaria siceraria
COMMON NAME: Bottle Gourd
Plant Profile
A distinctive member of its genus, Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) is a fine, easy, generous vine. Bottle gourd is one of oldest of cultivated plants, dried and hollowed for water jugs and the bowls. Young fruits are eaten as a fine, mild vegetable in warm regions. It is a fine, easy, generous vine of warm, sunny garden and the trellis. The flowering period doubles as a feeding season for bees and other pollinators. These traits together are what have kept the plant in gardens for so long.
Science & Biotechnology
Lagenaria siceraria sits in the Lagenaria group, a group that keeps botanists, horticulturists and plant breeders busy with questions of classification, adaptation and ornamental potential. Bottle gourd has carved a quiet but solid place in plant science, and vine has been studied for long, narrow fruits and their very long record among cultivated plants of old world. With present-day seed handling, raising this species well within the reach of any careful grower.
Uses & Benefits
Gardeners value Bottle Gourd for its ornamental character, and the plant also fits naturally into herb, vegetable and cutting gardens. Bottle gourd does a lot of work in garden and old households. Young fruits are a fine, mild vegetable of warm regions, and dried, hollowed shells served old households as water jugs, bowls, ladles and musical instruments. Vigorous, fast-growing vine is also a fine, generous, easy cover for trellis and fence, and fine, white, night-opening flowers add their own quiet charm. Getting it going is easy; keeping it going is easier still.
Bottle gourd is a tender vegetable and the source of calabash vessels and instruments; only sweet, non-bitter fruits are edible, since bitter ones carry toxic cucurbitacins.
Growing from Seed
Starting Bottle Gourd from seed is simple and satisfying. Broadcast the seed thinly over a fine, free-draining compost, sieve a little more compost on top, and water with a fine rose. Once the seedlings have made true leaves, pot them on individually and plant out when they are sturdy and conditions are right.
Our Take
Bottle Gourd is the kind of plant that rewards a permanent spot. Its wants are few — a sunny spot, soil that drains, and time to settle in.
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