葫芦考略

葫芦被我国古人当作瓜类的一种，是我国栽培历史最悠久的植物之一，在距今七八年千的我国新石器遗址中曾发现它的残果和种子遗存，文字记载也很早。它在我国古代有着极为广泛的用途，除果实和叶子供食用和作药物外，成熟的果实还被用来制作各生活用具、乐器等等，另外瓜瓤被用作喂猪，种子被用于榨油浇制蜡烛，在中华文明发展进程中起着非常重要的作用。可能出于对这种植物极端推崇的缘故，古人甚至认为人类也由它发源而来。从有关历史资料来看，葫芦应是一种起源于我国的栽培植物，原产地可能在华南或华西南。

A Short History About Gourd

Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), which had been regarded by ancient Chinese as a kind of melons, is certainly one of the earliest cultivated plants in China. Not only the remains of its fruit and seed have been found in some Neolithic sites around 5000 to 6000 B. C. but its historical records are very old. The plant has several varieties, which were widely used for different purposes in ancient Chinese daily life. Besides its unripe fruit and leaf being used as food and drug, its ripe fruit can serve as various vessels and tableware as well as floats for crossing streams, etc. In addition, the pith of its fruit had been used as fodder and its seed for the extraction of oil to make candles. Gourd was also very important in people's artistic and religious life. Its ripe fruit was used for making musical instruments and handicraft articles in remote prehistoric times. It also had some influence on painting and poetry as well as decoration of furniture. Gourd was also an important implement in ancient Chinese religions, especially Taoism. Nevertheless, people can find many ancient ceramic pots apparently made in imitating the shape of a gourd. It is beyond doubt that this plant played a great part in the development of ancient Chinese civilization. Perhaps because ancient people praised gourd so highly that they even believed mankind to be originated from the plant. According to relevant historical information, gourd must have its origin in China, probably in South or Southwest China.