What is a gourd?

A gourd is a plant of the Cucurbitaceae family. Pumpkins are in the same family. There are three main species: Lagenaria, Cucurbita and Luffas. The type most often used by gourd artists and craftsmen is the Lagenaria or “hard shelled” gourds.  Wikipedia

 

Lagenarias is a vine producing plant and produces white blossoms that bloom at night.  The growing Lagenaria is green. Once dried, the shell is hard and an amber color. It can be used for many types of art and crafts and utility purposes, too. Gourds were the earliest plant species domesticated by humans and were used by man as containers or vessels before clay or stone pottery was used. Recent DNA analyses of bottle gourds found at several sites throughout the Americas has resolved a longstanding mystery, as well as adding evidence establishing the early date of domestication of the bottle gourd plant. The bottle gourd is native to Africa. Archeologists have concluded the bottle gourd was deliberately brought by early Asian migrants to the Americas, at a time pre-dating the domestication of plants for food anywhere on Earth. It has also be found that gourd skins were used to replace missing portions of skulls in Nolithic times.  

 

Only a few types of gourds are used for food consumption. Most often, gourds have utilitarian uses. The shell of dried gourds has a wooden appearance without a grain. It varies in thickness. It sometimes takes months for a gourd to dry completely. The hard surface lends itself to carving, pyrography, painting, sculpture, containers, masks and musical instruments, to name a few. Thousands of examples can be found online by searching “Gourd Art”.