Commonly known as buffalo or (my preference) Coyote gourd, this North American native cucurbit is quite different from most of the ones you might be familiar with. It is a perennial, rather than a frost-sensitive annual like cucumber, pumpkins, or other squashes, dying back to tuber-like thick taproots to survive cold winters. Vines may reach 10-20 feet in length and may branch, sprawling across the ground and developing triangular leaves sometimes over a foot long, fuzzy and leathery and give off a somewhat fetid odor (hence the Latin name) when disturbed. Large orange flowers (which can be cooked like squash flowers) are followed by small round fruits that, when very young and green, can be cooked like squash, but when mature and turning yellow become hard and decorative, with numerous fatty seeds that can be roasted. Seeds can be stored for significant periods; the gourd I harvested was picked some 5 years ago and only recently opened, and 3 of the 4 seeds I planted sprouted in days.
Packets contain approx. 10 seeds each.