Is bottle gourd a vegetable or a fruit

Gourd is a kind of melon. Because its shape looks like a gourd, it is also called gourd. Gourd can be put together with many ingredients to make stir-fried dishes. The gourd tastes very fragrant and tastes good, so it is liked by many people. However, some people can’t tell whether the gourd belongs to the fruit or vegetable category. Let’s learn about the categories of gourds with the editor below?

Gourd is a vegetable.

Gourd, Latin name: Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl. It belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and the Cucurbitaceae genus. It is a climbing plant, an annual climbing herb with soft hairs. It blooms white flowers in summer and autumn and is monoecious. The vine of the gourd can reach 15 meters in length, and the fruit can range from 10 centimeters to one meter. The heaviest can weigh up to one kilogram.

Gourds prefer warm, sheltered environments and require a lot of space when planted. Seedlings are afraid of frost. Fresh bottle gourds have tender green skin and white flesh. The fruit is also called bottle gourd and can be harvested when immature and eaten as a vegetable.

The length of the vines, the size of the leaves and flowers, and the size and shape of the fruits of each cultivated type of gourd vary. The fruits come in stick-shaped, gourd-shaped, dolphin-shaped, pot-shaped, etc. The name of the type also depends on the shape of the fruit. In addition, in ancient times people dried gourds, hollowed out the inside, and used them to hold things.

Gourd is an annual climbing herb of the genus Cucurbitaceae. Also known as gourd and flat cattail. The young and tender fruits are edible. Native to India and tropical Africa. In ancient China, the dried husks of the ripe fruit were used as containers and also for medicinal purposes. It has been recorded in the Book of Songs. The remains of gourd fruits and peels were unearthed at the Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang and the Luojiajiao site in Tongxiang, indicating that the history of gourd cultivation in China can be traced back to the Neolithic Age. Gourd is widely distributed throughout the country, but mainly south of the Yangtze River.

The gourd has a well-developed root system and a creeping stem that can reach 3 to 4 meters in length with strong branching. The leaves are simple, alternate, heart-shaped and hairy. The flowers are of different sexes on the same plant. Sometimes bisexual flowers are produced, but the fruits are often deformed and have no edible value. The flowers are white and mostly bloom at night or in the evening or early morning when the sunlight is weak. Male flowers are mostly grown in the middle and lower parts of the main vine, while female flowers are mostly grown in the upper part of the main vine. The side vines can produce female flowers from the 1st to 2nd nodes, so the side vines are the main source of fruiting. The gourd can be harvested 10 to 20 days after flowering. The young peel and placenta are tender and juicy and can be eaten. When the fruit is mature, the peel hardens and the placenta tissue dries up and is inedible.