The Difference Between Cucurbits and Lagenaria Gourds

Probably everyone is familiar with the ornamental gourds we see in grocery stores and roadside stands around Thanksgiving time. All the small gourds in pretty autumn mixtures of colors including deep green and orange mixtures. These are what are known as cucurbits or ornamental gourds. These ornamental gourds have a short shelf life for the most part. They remain hard for the season, then as they dry out and start molding, they begin to collapse, and if they do not collapse, the shells are generally very thin. There are a couple of Ornamental gourds that can and do last longer, the egg gourd and the Tennessee spinner, we will mention why these are in the cucurbit class later.

Lagenaria Vs. cucurbit gourds on the other hand are not normally used as an ornamental gourd to decorate for Thanksgiving. Lagenaria are not the colorful gourds that ornamental cucurbits are, they are thicker shelled and take a long time to dry out. One of the major differences between cucurbits and lagenarias are, when a lagenaria gourd is dried out, they have a hard thick shell that can be turned into a usable tool or utility item. Lagenaria's, because of this property have been used by many cultures around the world as tools for gathering, storing, carrying, and many other needful uses. Today lagenarias have been adopted as a 3 dimensional art canvas and because of their shape have been turned into artistic vases, table center pieces, wall hangings, and many other beautiful pieces of work.

In the garden the primary difference between cucurbits and lagenarias is noticeable when they begin to flower. Cucurbits Vs lagenarias, like the egg gourds, Tennessee Spinners, and the many ornamental varieties have large yellow flowers that bloom during the daytime, while the lagenaria vines have white flowers that open in the late afternoon and remain open all night, then close up in the morning hours. Because of this major difference in cucurbits and lagenaria gourds, you also find a different group of pollinators. Cucurbits with the large yellow flowers attract the typical garden pollinators like bee's and butterflies, while lagenaria's being white flowers and being open at night attract moths and night time pollinators. You've seen moths gather around a white porch light, well a garden full of white flowers glowing under the white moonlight becomes an attraction to the moths.

If you would like to learn more about Gourds and view the artwork of many gourd artists, please visit the Gourd Reserve with over 800 pages of gourdiculture and we also host the Gourd Artists Showcase in our galleries section. You can also read more short articles on gourds and growing gourds here on my AC producer page.