Highly Versatile Bottle Gourd One of the Oldest Cultivated Crops

First cultivated around 7.00 B.C. in South America, the bottle gourd is thought to have originated in either Africa, south of the Sahara, or India. The suggestion that it may have dispersed naturally by floating on oceanic currents from one continent to another has been substantiated by experiments which have found that the seed will germinate after surviving seven months in seawater.

The bottle gourd, one the earliest crops cultivated in the tropics, have narrow necks which have developed in many shapes and sizes with some reaching up to 6 feet long.

Bottle gourds have little nutritious value possessing on moderate sources of vitamin C, small amounts of B vitamins and protein. There are, however, several medicinal properties attributed to the bottle gourd including:

•  Induces Vomiting: Fruit pulps around seeds is emetic (induces vomiting) and purgative and is sometimes given to horses;
•  Treats Baldness: Juice from the fruit treats has been used to treat baldness;
•  Treats Acne: Mixed with boiled with lime juice, it is has been used to treat pimples;
•  Treats Rheumatism: Boiled with oil it has been used to treat rheumatism (muscle and joint maladies);
•  Treats Dropsy: Seeds and nuts have been used to treat dropsy (accumulation of water in the body);
•  Treats Headaches: The seed oil has been used externally for headaches.

The young fruits are edible, but mature shells become extremely hard when dried and have been used to make bottles, cooking utensils, musical instruments, floats for fishing nets, and even gunpowder flasks.