Nature Seeds Bottle Gourd/Calabash F1 Hybrid 5 Vegetable Gardening Seed *DELIVERY*- Please allow 7-14 WORKING DAYS for the item to reach you. The bottle gourd is a vigorous, annual, running or climbing vine with large leaves and a lush appearance. It grows fast and may begin to flower only 2 months after seeding. The thick stem is furrowed longitudinally. The bottle gourd flowers are borne singly on the axils of the leaves, the males on long peduncles and the females on short peduncles. The flowers are white and attractive, up to 10cm in diameter, with spreading petals. The ovary is inferior and in the shape of the fruit. Otherwise, the male and female flowers are similar in appearance. The anthers are borne on short filaments grouped at the center of the flower. The stigmas are short, thickened, and branched. The brownish seeds are numerous in a whitish green pulp. Each seed is somewhat rectangular in shape with grooved notches near the attached end. Fruit set can be improved by hand pollination. Lagenaria forms intercross freely, resulting in great variation in vigor and horticultural characteristics. Some varieties differ in earliness of flowering and fruit set by a month or more. The size of the fruit varies from 5-10cm in diameter and from 10-20cm in length. High in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Zinc, Thiamin, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese. Cooking information : Bottle Gourd is frequently used in southern Chinese cuisine as either a stir-fry or in a soup. Used In vegetarian makizushi (rolled sushi). How to grow : Space plants 2 meter apart. Plant seeds 3cm deep in raised beds or mounds. A trellis is advised, but vines may be allowed to run on the ground. With ground culture, the use of mulch helps to prevent fruit-rotting, but fruits often form away from the mulch. Maturity period - Approximate 70 days.