Cucurbita foetidissima

Buffalo gourd, calabazilla, Calabazilla

Family: Cucurbitaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Buffalo gourd is a California native perennial found in the Great Valley, Central Western, Southwestern, and Desert bioregions in sandy and gravelly places at elevations below 1,300 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces large, striking yellow flowers measuring 9 to 12 centimeters across. Growing with coarsely rough stems and long branched tendrils, it spreads vigorously across open ground. Its large triangular-ovate leaves are gray-green, approximately 15 to 30 centimeters wide, with finely toothed edges and a heart-shaped or truncate base. The fruit is a distinctive spherical gourd about 7 to 8 centimeters wide, green with coarse white stripes.

Habitat: Sandy, gravelly places

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: < 1300 m

Bioregions: GV, CW, SW, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, Ventura, Calaveras, Riverside, San Diego, Merced, Fresno, Orange, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Butte, Stanislaus, Madera, Alameda, Tulare, Sonoma, Monterey

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.