Plant of the Day
Monday 8 August 2016

The amazing and useful fruit of Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, calabash, opo squash, long melon). This climber is grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and eaten as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a container or utensil. These impressive specimens were growing in the tropical waterlily house in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

Jill Raggett