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Gourds
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GALLERY |
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| Hinnari - a musical instrument |
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| Assorted snuff boxes |
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Carved and decorated gourd |
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Water bottle made from a gourd |
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Cricket cage |
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Small water bottle encased in a net |
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| Sake bottle |
Gourds have been used by many societies in vast and diverse ways. These oddly shaped, hard-skinned, fruits come from various plants in the Cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae). Their closest relatives are the melon, pumpkin, and squash. The Economic Botany Collections at Kew house around 60 gourds in a variety of shapes and sizes, most collected between 1850 and 1900. These gourds illustrate the diversity of ways humans have used gourds, including water bottles, pipes, snuff boxes, musical instruments and even cricket cages. Some of the gourds have been formed to suit their specific uses, being shaped in a mould or tied with string as they were grown.
The most widely used of the gourd species is the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria). Most of the Collections’ gourds are from this species. The bottle gourd was one of the few plants cultivated in both the New and Old worlds in prehistoric times. Botanists believe the plant may have originated in Africa and then floated across the seas to South America . This gourd probably was first used as a water carrier, but quickly developed more diverse purposes. The Hawaiians alone had over 40 uses for this gourd! Societies used the bottle gourd for storing dry grains, churning butter and cheese, and brewing beer. The gourds at Kew illustrate many of these uses. Many societies made snuff boxes out of tiny bottle gourds, decorating them in a variety of ways. Kew has a wide range of snuff boxes. Notice the many different ways these tiny gourds were decorated.
One of the bottle gourd’s most common use is as a musical instrument. The hollowed-out plant has been turned into a drum, rattle, scraper, and even a wind or stringed instrument. The Collections at Kew house several musical instruments fashioned out of gourds. The musical instrument illustrated here is a Hinnari, formed by hanging two hollow gourds from a string. This highly decorated instrument came from Madras, India .
There is a great concern today that the diverse forms of the bottle gourd are disappearing. Societies have replaced gourds with more modern wares, such as pottery, aluminium or plastic. This has resulted in a decline in the traditional importance of the gourd and in its cultivation, making the examples at Kew all the more fascinating. Perhaps we can soon expect a renewed interest in collecting those gourds still surviving today, in order that we may preserve something of this versatile and dynamic plant for future generations.
For further information on gourds, please read "Preserving the gourd perspective."
Great Gourd! |
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Many people used bottle gourds for medicinal purposes as well. They were believed to act as a purgative, an antidote for certain poisons, and a cure for coughs. The juice of the gourd was used to prevent baldness and battle jaundice, and drinking an infusion of its seeds, like those kept by the Economic Botany Collections, was thought to cure chills and soothe headaches. In early Peruvian civilisations, the bottle gourd was even used in surgery. Broken pieces of skull were replaced with a piece of the plant’s shell, and the skin was then stitched back over. |
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