Calabash seeds - Lagenaria

The Bottle Gourd or Pilgrim's Gourd or "bird's nest" is a variety of ornamental gourd once used by pilgrims to carry water along the paths of Compostela. Its fruits have a characteristic flask shape, with a very swollen base and a straight "neck". Once dried, they can be used for decoration or for making utensils. This annual climbing plant will require sturdy stakes or trellises for support. It is an easy plant to sow and grow in rich, moist soil.

The pilgrim's gourd or bottle gourd comes from a plant called Cucurbita or Lagenaria siceraria. This plant is an annual, tropical plant that has been selected and domesticated for a long time by humans who use its fruits with a very hard and waterproof bark as containers. According to historians, its origins are believed to be in Africa, Thailand, or Peru. Like courgettes and all squashes, this plant belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family.

A vigorous climbing or creeping plant, this pilgrim's gourd sprouts, blooms, and bears fruit in 4 to 5 months. It develops branching stems that can reach 4-5 m in length, with tendrils opposite the leaves, able to cling to any support within reach. The green leaves are simple, rounded, hairy, and soft to the touch. Flowering occurs from July to September, about 4 months after sowing. It consists of white male flowers distinct from female flowers, funnel-shaped, opening at dusk. Only female flowers produce fruits. The fruit has a spherical base extended by a thick or thin cylinder. It is covered with a shiny, light green skin. When the fruit is dry, its epidermis becomes light brown with dark brown and rust spots. Each fruit can measure between 20 and 40 cm in height by 18 to 30 cm in diameter at the base. The fruit's "flesh" dries out and turns woody at maturity, becoming as hard as wood.

Bottle gourd or pilgrim's gourd seeds are sown in spring, under heated shelter, like vegetable seedlings, then transplanted into open ground or large pots, with a strong and sufficiently large support for climbing. You can also train them to climb on a pergola or arbour. Their unusual fruits can be used for decoration. The dried fruits, harvested before frosts, can be kept for many years. Depending on individual preferences, they can be painted, waxed, or varnished. They can be used by nesting birds!