"This book is a fascinating collection of essays about the interactions of plants and people. Twelve chapters deal with individual plants or groups of plants and one with the origins of agriculture....This is a well-written, easily readable text by a leading economic botanist."-Brittonia "Through study of these examples, we gain insight into the probable early stages of plant domestication. Written by an experienced field botanist, in a nontechnical, easy style, this book brings field botany alive."-Library Journal

Humankind has had a long and intimate association with gourds, and one of them, the bottle gourd, or calabash, may have been man's first cultivated plant. Although grown in the United States today primarily as ornamentals, in other parts of the world gourds have many other important uses. With charming text and stunning black-and-white photographs, "The Gourd Book"provides fascinating scientific information and folklore about these remarkable plants and keys for identifying species.
The first part of the book deals with tree gourds, widely used as containers and for decoration;...