Cucurbita Foetidissima Seedlings

 Cucurbita foetidissima, also known as buffalo gourd, is a plant that I have been dieing to grow. It is closely related to cultivated squash and pumpkins that we regularly eat, but contains bitter cucurbitacins that are somewhat toxic and taste awful. The plants also produce a large perennial taproot that is supposedly quite winter hardy. It is a really cool plant that deserves way more attention from plant breeders.

Seed germinates and pokes through soil after 1-2 weeks

The first true leaf is pointy, fuzzy, and triangular.

 I am very excited about growing Cucurbita foetidissima this year, and will hopefully have it every year after. The plants are perennial and should be winter hardy enough to live here. Once I grow out the plants for more seed, I want to try grafting other squashes onto it with C. foetidissima as a rootsock. This could provide a deep taproot for drought tolerance and nutrient mining. The taproots can also weigh up to 100lbs or more after many years of growth. Imagine grafting a pumpkin to that root system!

These buffalo gourd seedlings are ready to transplant outside.

 The buffalo gourd would make a very useful survival crop too, so it would be an excellent plant to add to the garden provided you have the space. A well established plant can produce dozens of softball-sized fruits filled with edible seeds. Before cooking like pumpkin seeds, they need to be washed thoroughly to remove any bitter residue from the fruit. The gourds can also be lathered in water to make a soapy substance suitable for washing. The only thing that could make this better, is if the fruit's flesh was edible. If only I could breed bitterness out of the buffalo gourd... that would be an amazingly productive squash. I might try some crosses, but success is highly unlikely. I will update later on the amazing Cucurbita foetidissima and all of its glory.