Helga's Gourd

In the Northeast of The Kingdom of Menerv grows an unusual gourd sporting a psychedelic color pattern. This plant also known as the Hunt's rattle holds cultural significance in the province of Frostshrike being prominent the Wildsman festival where people from all over Menerv gather together to celebrate the harvest and the long standing treaty between the faelord known as Jasper Wistletoes and the Menervin Crown.

Basic Information

Anatomy

This plant grows in long green sprawling vines similar to what you find on other similar plants but lacking the irritating hairs on the leaves and being notably darker in color. In the early fall it will produce big blue flowers with purple stamen that grow into the fruit later in the season. The fruit itself is vaguely club shaped the "handle" averaging 7 inches in length and the wider "head" end being around 4-5 inches making it around a foot in whole. The hard outer shell is covered in ridges and warts and has a striking color pattern of purples, greens, and yellow. The raw insides, which take some work to look at, are a pale green color with a pocket of light blue seeds. The earlier in the season the firmer the flesh will be.

Ecology and Habitats

It tends to grow in damp loose well fertilized soil even tolerating outright bog as long as it is not in direct sunlight when the day is hottest and enjoys cold temperatures as long as its not freezing.

Biological Cycle

Its sprouts in late spring and grows through the summer producing flowers but will not produce fruit. These flowers known as fair ladies are picked off to encourage the plant to grow larger or can be left on to keep it from outgrowing the space. It will start to fruit in early fall and will continue until it dies with the first frost.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Gourd

The flesh cooked whole in the shell is a common staple the seeds being roasted in a stone or iron container making a popular snack that can keep for more than two and a half months in cold weather. while the fruits hard shell when dried is used in the carving of , jewelry, utensils, and instruments is key in the Wildsman festival and the legend surrounding it of Helga the Stalwart.

Flower

The flower picked during the late spring and early summer is eaten both fresh in salads and sandwiches, and dried as a seasoning or in tea. Young men from the Frostshrike area give a bouquet or a jar of potpourri, depending on the season, to propose marriage to the woman they have been courting.