Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Lagenaria

LAGENARIA (laj-e-nā'ri-ä), in botany, a genus of Cucurbitaceæ, containing but one species, the bottle, club, or trumpet gourd (L. vulgaris). It is wild in India, the Moluccas and Abyssinia. In that state it is poisonous, but when cultivated its deleterious properties disappear. Anglo-Indians boil the fruit when young and use it as vegetable marrow. Natives of India slice and eat it as a curry. The young shoots and leaves are also eaten. The seeds yield an oil which is used as an application in headaches. The flesh of the fruit is deemed to be diuretic, refrigerant and anti-bilious. It is cultivated in the warmer parts of the Eastern Hemisphere.