Editing Gourd (section)

==Terminology==
[[File:Gourds - grown in the garden.JPG|thumb|''[[Cucurbita pepo]]'' gourds grown in a suburban garden in [[Australia]]]]

''Gourd'' is occasionally used to describe crop plants in the [[family (biology)|family]] Cucurbitaceae, like [[pumpkin]]s, [[cucumber]]s, [[Cucurbita|squash]], [[luffa]], and [[melon]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cucurbit.org/family.html|title=Cucurbitaceae|last=Andres|first=T. C.|date=2004|website=The Cucurbit Network|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028061200/http://www.cucurbit.org/family.html|archive-date=2011-10-28|url-status=dead|access-date=2011-10-24}}</ref> More specifically, ''gourd'' refers to the [[fruits]] of plants in the two Cucurbitaceae genera ''[[Lagenaria]]'' and ''[[Cucurbita]]'',<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Paris|first=Harry S.|date=October 1989|title=Historical records, origins, and development of the edible cultivar groups of ''Cucurbita pepo'' (Cucurbitaceae)|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251359943|journal=[[Economic Botany]]|volume=43|issue=4|pages=423–443|doi=10.1007/BF02935916|bibcode=1989EcBot..43..423P |s2cid=29052282}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cutler|first1=Hugh C.|last2=Whitaker|first2=Thomas W.|author-link2=Thomas W. Whitaker|date=April 1961|title=History and Distribution of the Cultivated Cucurbits in the Americas|url=http://www.adwr.state.az.us/Adjudications/documents/HopiContestedCaseDisclosures/Hopi%20Initial%20Disclosure/HP416%20-%20HP433.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=[[American Antiquity]]|volume=26|issue=4|pages=469–485|doi=10.2307/278735|jstor=278735|s2cid=161495351 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512232554/http://www.adwr.state.az.us/Adjudications/documents/HopiContestedCaseDisclosures/Hopi%20Initial%20Disclosure/HP416%20-%20HP433.pdf|archive-date=2013-05-12}}</ref> or also to their hollow, dried-out shell.

There are many different gourds worldwide. The main plants referred to as gourds include several species from the genus ''Cucurbita'' (mostly native to North America, including the [[Malabar gourd]] and [[turban squash]]), ''[[Crescentia cujete]]'' (the tree gourd or calabash tree, native to the American tropics) and ''[[Lagenaria siceraria]]'' (bottle gourd, thought to be originally from Africa but present worldwide).<ref name=Prance/><ref name=Summit2001>{{cite book |last=Summit |first=Ginger |year=2001 |title=Gourds in Your Garden: A Guidebook for the Home Gardener |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3Wv9PjoXQsC&q=Gourds+in+history&pg=PA23 |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company |isbn=0806926996}}</ref>{{rp|21}} Other plants with gourd in their name include the luffa gourd (likely domesticated in Asia), which includes several species from the genus ''[[Luffa]]'', as well as the [[wax gourd]], [[snake gourd]], [[Momordica dioica|teasel gourd]], [[hedgehog gourd]], [[buffalo gourd]]/coyote gourd. The [[bitter melon]]/balsam apple/balsam pear is also sometimes referred to as a gourd.<ref name=Summit2001/>{{rp|18–19, 21}}