[Illustration: Cucurbita digitata
Cucurbita foetidissima]
Common names: BUFFALO-GOURD, COYOTE-MELON, (_CALABAZILLA_), (_CHILI
COYOTE_)
Arizona desert: (_Cucurbita digitata_). Yellow. June-October.
California desert: (_Cucurbita palmata_). Yellow. July-September.
Texas desert: (_Cucurbita foetidissima_). Yellow. May-August.
Gourd family. Size: Trailing perennial with stems 4 to 15 feet long.
Gourds are conspicuous, trailing, rank-growing plants common along
roadsides and in the open desert. Leaves are grayish-green, and blossoms
yellow and trumpet-shaped. The striped fruits are about the size and
shape of a tennis ball, although some are egg-shaped.
The fruits which are very conspicuous after the vines and leaves have
been winter-killed, are sometimes collected, painted in gay colors, and
used as ornaments about the house.
Although Indians considered the fruits as inferior and suitable only for
coyotes, they ate them either cooked or dried, and made the seeds into a
mush. Pioneers used the crushed roots of these plants as a cleansing
agent in washing clothes.