182. The CALABASH-TREE (Crescentia cujeta) is a production of the West Indies and America, about the height and dimensions if an apple-tree, with crooked horizontal branches, wedge-shaped leaves, pale white flowers on the trunk and branches, and a roundish fruit, from two inches to a foot in diameter.
The uses to which the fruit of the calabash tree is applied are very numerous. Being covered with a greenish yellow skin, which encloses a thin, hard, and almost woody shell, it is employed for various kinds of domestic vessels, such as water cans, goblets, and cups of almost every shape and description. So hard and close-grained is the calabash, that, when it contains any kind of fluid, it may even be put on the fire without injury. When intended for ornamental purposes, the vessels that are made of the shell of this fruit are sometimes highly polished, and have figures engraven upon them, which are variously tinged with indigo and other colours. The Indians make musical instruments with the calabash.
The calabash contains a pale, yellow, juicy pulp, of unpleasant taste, which is esteemed a valuable remedy in several disorders, both external and internal.
CLASS XV.—TETRADYNAMIA.
SILICULOSA.
183. SEA KALE (Crambe maritima) is a well-known plant in our kitchen-gardens, the early shoots of which are blanched, and eaten in the same manner as asparagus.
This plant grows wild on sandy sea-coasts in various parts of England; and has been transplanted thence into the gardens. The mode of management is, in the autumn, to place large inverted garden-pots over the plants, and to cover the whole bed and the pots with dung and litter. The heat of the fermenting dung causes the plants to shoot early in the spring; and the pots protect them and keep them clear of the litter. By this means also, as they have no access to the light, they become blanched, tender, and of extremely sweet and delicate flavour.
Sea kale is ready for use some time before asparagus appears; and, for the table, it is preferred by most persons to that favourite vegetable. If the leaves of sea kale be eaten when full grown, they are said to occasion giddiness; but horses, cows, swine, and other animals, feed upon them without injury.