An annual with ribbed stem, climbing by means of strong tendrils that have one long and one shorter branch.
Flowers are white, solitary in the axils of the leaves.
Fruits usually club-shaped, green mottled with grey or white. Experiments have shown that mature gourds may be carried from Africa to South America by ocean currents without loss of viability of the seeds and this suggested that it might have originated in Africa. The fruits in the green stage are used as vegetables and eaten with curry by Malays. The hard woody shell of the dried gourd serves many purposes from water-bottles, ladles, cups to musical instruments and floats for buoying fish nets and rafts. Homepage Last modified on Tuesday, 14th May 1996.