The calabash gourd may be the oldest domesticated plant on Earth — and it may have reached the Americas by floating across the Atlantic Ocean all by itself.
The hard-shelled fruit of various tropical plants, dried and used as a container, utensil, or musical instrument. Also the tree (Crescentia cujete) or vine (Lagenaria siceraria) that produces it.
From French calebasse, from Spanish calabaza (gourd, pumpkin), possibly from Arabic qarʿa yābisa (dry gourd) or from a pre-Roman Iberian substrate word Key roots: calabaza (Spanish: "gourd, pumpkin").
The bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), the plant most commonly called calabash, may be the oldest domesticated plant in the world — archaeological evidence dates its cultivation to at least 10,000 years ago. It likely originated in Africa and reached the Americas either by human transport or by floating across the Atlantic Ocean (the dried gourds are waterproof and buoyant). Calabash gourds serve as water containers, bowls, musical instruments