The African Calabash tree belongs to the   family Bignoniaceae, 6 to 12 metres tall, that grows in Africa, Central and South America, the West Indies, and extreme southern Florida. The calabash tree produces large spherical fruits, up to 50 cm in diameter, the hard shells of which are useful as utensils such as bowls, cups, and other water containers, when hollowed out.
They are also called bottle gourds.
The fruit’s shell encloses a whitish pulp and thin, dark brown seeds. The calabash tree’s flowers have five petals fused in a funnel shape; they are light green.
They are very tough plants
Some have described them as weird and scruffy looking, as the limbs and fruits grow anywhere from the trunk and do not seem to have any form of order as do most trees.
In some parts of Africa, this tree has a local nick name, the Tupperware Tree, because the fruits are  multi-purpose and could be used to make several useful household items!
By cutting the top off and cleaning out the inside of the calabash fruit, letting it dry out, you have made a storage jar with a lid.
By cutting the calabash fruit in half and letting the two cleaned halves dry out, you have two food bowls!
As ornaments, one can cut the tops off of several calabash fruits, dry them out, drill holes in them and make lampshades.
In the 1970s, some Guyanese motorcyclists, not wanting to spend money on safety helmets, attempted to use the calabash as crash helmets .
They cut them into the required shapes and then painted them so they looked like real helmets.
The helmets looked authentic and some  guys  even got away with this  in cases where the Police were not quite vigilant.
There is no end to the household or craft items that can be made from the African calabash tree.
In parts of some countries in Africa, some  people believe  that the juice which can be squeezed from the  contents of the African calabash fruit, though somewhat smelly,   will cure anything and people grow or regularly  buy the ripe fruits so that they can concoct this magic potion and cure for all.
Cutting the ends of the branches and planting them in pots is all it takes to reproduce these trees. They are easy to grow as there are no special techniques required to grow them.(END).
PICTURES IN GRAPHICS FOLDER: Calabash Tree.