BOTTLE GOURD
The bottle gourd, also called bottle squash and calabash gourd, is a well traveled vegetable. They vary in size from 6 inches to over 3 feet in length, and 2 to 12 inches in diameter, and can survive in salt water for more than 6 months. They probably originated in Africa, but there are remains in Peru dating to 10,000 B.C. Remains have been found in Egypt, India, New Zealand, Mexico, Indonesia, China, and Florida. It probably floated on the seas in it's long travels. The young gourds can be eaten like zucchini, and the older, mature gourds are cleaned and dried and used for containers such as bottles, bowls, etc. It is the only cultivated crop known to have existed in both the Old and New Worlds in pre-Columbian times.
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