At this time of the year, these gourds start to spring up and flower and proliferate at the sides of the road - very pretty, and also fairly poisonous, however tempting their marrow-striped round fruit may be. What that mild toxicity does to honey, I don't know. Our own back yard is thick with tiny bees - smaller than this one - harvesting the Russian Sage and the catmint, especially - and we trust that they head off to some neighboring hive. But I'm not so sure about Cucurbita foetidissima (not an encouraging name), aka Buffalo Gourd. Apparently people are investigating whether it can be grown in large quantities and used as bio-fuel, which, well, would be something ...
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