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Crescentia cujete
Also called Calabash Tree, Calabash, Goobie Tree, Callebasse Boite, Callebasse Coricon, Callebasse Longue, Tree Calabash
In Singapore: Calabash, Tabung Kayu, 葫芦树, 炮弹果, 瓠瓜木 (Grown in Singapore)
Crescentia cujete is a medium-sized tree from the Americas, grown for its hard-shelled fruit (gourds) used as bowls and containers. It tolerates a wide range of conditions, and the key to growing it is warmth and a sunny, well-drained site.
Crescentia cujete, commonly known as the calabash tree, is a species of flowering plant. It is a medium-sized tree in the trumpet vine family Bignoniaceae native to the Americas, and which is grown in Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, South America, the West Indies and extreme southern Florida. It is the national tree of St. Lucia. It is a dicotyledonous plant with simple leaves, which are alternate or in fascicles (clusters) on short shoots. Its fruit is up to 30 cm (12 in) long by 25 cm (9.8 in) wide. According to Bailey, it can occasionally be 45–50 cm (18–20 in) wide. It is naturalized in India. The tree shares its common name with that of the vine calabash, or bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria).
In Cuba, this tree is known to grow in both disturbed habitat and areas of poor drainage. It can grow up to 10 m (33 ft) tall.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Crescentia cujete by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
