Gerald McCormack, CINHT
The ancient Polynesians brought many plants into Polynesia from Melanesia and Asia. Was this the source of the Bottle Gourd or did it come from the Americas?
In the Cook Islands there are 39 useful, or formerly useful, plants that were purposefully introduced by the Polynesian settlers before contact with Europeans. In addition there are 17 weedy plants that were probably accidentally introduced in those ancient times, although some are used in herbal medicines and might have been purposeful introductions. In total: about 56 Polynesian Introduced plants.
Among the Polynesian Introduced plants there are two that probably came from the Pacific coast of South America: the Sweet Potato (Kūmara, Kūara, Ipomoea batatas) and the Bottle Gourd (Hue, ‘Ue, Lagenaria siceraria).
