The gourd challenge

In the plantfiles, there are 12 cultivars of Lagenaria siceraria. A quick seach found 98 known cultivars and there are probably that many more, 22 cultivars in the cucurbita family, 21 Luffa types, and about a dozen between Momordica and Sechium families. I will cover Benincasa hispida. So that leaves plenty of cultivars for you-all to add to the plantfiles.

When I return home, I will try to post updated photos of the simple varieties I am growing.

I must pass on the challenge...I posted ALL the pictures I had, plus I lost my digital camera about a month ago and my budget doesn't see one in my future until about the time of the KY RU.

So I will try to figure out the latin names you just posted....but the common names would have been nice for this old lady!!

Jo

Common names are tricky. Lagenaria siceraria contains the larger number of ornamental gourds like the birdhouse, dipper calabash etc. There are several squashes/ squash relatives that are considered gourds for marketing purposes (cucurbita) which includes the Crown of Thorns, Apple, Bell, Nest Egg, Pear,Turbans.etc Luffa edible include Chinese okra while another series is the well known sponge gourd . Momordica are bitter gourds used in oriental cuisine. Sechium is a series of Puerto Rican gourds that I know almost nothing about. Benincasa hispida are the wax gourds.

Thanks for all the info! Jo