Scientific Name: Crescentia cujete Plant Family: Bignoniaceae
Other Names: luch, hom, huaz, tree gourd, wild calabash, jicara
The calabash 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. For this reason, one of the calabash subspecies is known as the bottle gourd. The fresh fruit has a smooth, light green skin and white flesh.
The calabash is an evergreen tree reaching 20 to 30 feet in height, with a broad, irregular crown composed of long, spreading branches clothed in two to six-inch-long, bright green leaves, which create moderate shade beneath the tree. The calabash stands out for its year-round production of flowers and fruit, both of which are unusual. The two- inch-wide flowers are yellow/green, with red or purple veins, are cup-shaped, and appear to emerge directly from the branches. These are followed by the emergence of the large, round fruit, 5 to 12 inches in diameter, with a smooth, hard shell, which hang directly beneath the branches.
calabash ripening in the treeThe calabash was one of the first cultivated plants in the world, grown not for food but as a container.
The Calabash is also used in making the Shegureh and Balangi (a type of Xylophone) musical instruments
Balo African xylophoneIt is also used by some musicians as a kora.
Seckou Keita playing the kora, a music instrument made from the calabashThe fruit of the calabash tree, which are also called calabash, are very typical of African households
Lamp shade made from the calabash
EmoticonEmoticon