Calabash - Bottle Gourd /dried /punctured

sketchfab

The calabash is a type of vine, specifically Lagenaria siceraria, also known as long melon or Tasmania bean among many other names. This versatile plant produces fruit that can be used in various ways - either harvested young for eating as a vegetable, or allowed to mature and dried for use as a container. Its fresh skin is typically light green and smooth, while the flesh inside remains white. Calabash fruits come in different shapes, ranging from huge and rounded to small and bottle-shaped, even serpentine varieties that can grow over a meter long. The rounder types are commonly referred to as calabash gourds. Historically, the gourd was one of the first cultivated plants not grown primarily for food but rather used as containers. It is believed that the bottle gourd may have traveled from Africa to Asia and Europe through human migration or even by seeds floating on the ocean inside the gourd. Evidence suggests it existed in the New World before Christopher Columbus arrived, making it a significant discovery for botanists and historians alike.