calabash (redirected from Lagenaria siceraria)

calabash

Tree (Crescentia cujete) of the trumpet-creeper family (Bignoniaceae) that grows in Central and South America, the West Indies, and extreme southern Florida. It is often grown as an ornamental. It produces large spherical fruits, the hard shells of which are useful as bowls, cups, and other water containers when hollowed out. The fruit's shell encloses a whitish pulp and thin, dark brown seeds. The tree bears funnel-shaped, light green and purple-streaked flowers and evergreen leaves. Fruits of the unrelated bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) are also known as calabashes.

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calabash

1. a tropical American evergreen tree, Crescentia cujete, that produces large round gourds: family Bignoniaceae

2. another name for the bottle gourd

3. the gourd of either of these plants

4. the dried hollow shell of a gourd used as the bowl of a tobacco pipe, a bottle, rattle, etc.

5. calabash nutmeg a tropical African shrub, Monodora myristica, whose oily aromatic seeds can be used as nutmegs: family Annonaceae