  | Description: The Stinking Gourd lives up to its name with its coarse foliage giving off a foul smell even without picking or crushing the leaves. The popular name, Calabazilla, of Spanish origin, is more flattering ( meaning “little pumpkin”). This malodorous, prostrate vine trails 6 to 15 feet along the ground and has large gray-green, triangular leaves 4 – 6” long with a hairy underside. The large funnel-shaped, yellow- orange flowers are either male or female and both appear on the same plant. The male flowers are larger (4 – 5” long) with 3 stamens, while the shorter female flowers, possess a 3-parted pistil, which soon becomes a rounded, smooth, dark green gourd with pale green stripes. The 3-inch gourd or “pepo” fruit turns lemon yellow when ripe. Calabazilla is common in sandy places where it flowers from June through August.
Indians used the huge taproot as a purgative or pounded it into a cleansing soap. The dried gourds made good darning balls for early settlers and today they may be brightly painted for decorative use.
The Latin name for a gourd is Cucurbita while foetidissima means “very evil smelling”. Color: yellow
Season: June, July, August,
Community: Coastal Sage Scrub,
Use: Medicinal, Miscellaneous,
Origin: Native |
