Editing Gourd (section)

==History==
''L. siceraria'', or bottle gourds, have been found in Peruvian archaeological sites dating from 13,000 to 11,000 BC and Thailand sites from 11,000 to 6,000 BC.<ref name=Prance/> A study of bottle gourd [[DNA]] published in 2005 suggests that there are two distinct subspecies of bottle gourds, domesticated independently in Africa and Asia, the latter approximately 4,000 years earlier. The gourds found in the Americas appear to have come from the Asian subspecies very early in history, although a new study now indicates Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/scientists-solve-mystery-world-traveling-plant|title=Scientists Solve Mystery of World-Traveling Plant|last=Wade|first=Lizzie|date=2014-02-10|website=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615164759/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/02/scientists-solve-mystery-world-traveling-plant|archive-date=2018-06-15|url-status=live}}</ref> The archaeological and DNA records show it is likely that the gourd was among the first domesticated species, in Asia between 12,000 and 13,000 [[Before Present|years before present]], and possibly the first domesticated plant species.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Erickson|first1=David L.|last2=Smith|first2=Bruce D.|author-link2=Bruce D. Smith|last3=Clarke|first3=Andrew C.|last4=Sandweiss|first4=Daniel H.|last5=Tuross|first5=Noreen|year=2005|title=An Asian origin for a 10,000-year-old domesticated plant in the Americas|url=https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/102/51/18315.full.pdf|journal=[[PNAS]]|volume=102|issue=51|pages=18315–18320|bibcode=2005PNAS..10218315E|doi=10.1073/pnas.0509279102|pmc=1311910|pmid=16352716|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Wild, poisonous gourds (''[[Citrullus colocynthis]]'') were unknowingly added to the company of prophets' stew according to a story of [[Elisha]] in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. Elisha added flour to the stew in order to purify it.<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Kings|4:38-41|NKJV}}</ref> This interpretation of the verse is disputed by Rashi's interpretation,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sefaria.org/II_Kings.4.39?lang=he&p2=Rashi_on_II_Kings.4.39.3&lang2=he | title=II Kings 4:39 }}</ref> who translates it as poisonous mushrooms, not poisonous gourds.<ref> תרגום הלע"ז https://books.google.com/books?id=NsZiAAAAMAAJ&q=398 https://books.google.com/books?id=NsZiAAAAMAAJ&q=397</ref>

Gourds continued to be used throughout history in almost every culture throughout the world. [[European discovery of the Americas|European contact]] in North America found extensive gourd use, including the use of bottle gourds as birdhouses to attract [[purple martin]]s, which provided bug control for agriculture. Almost every culture had musical instruments made of gourds, including drums, stringed instruments common to Africa and wind instruments, including the [[nose flute]]s of the Pacific.<ref name=Summit2001/>{{rp|23}}