Pepo

Pepo, the gourd or fruit characteristic of most members of the order Cucurbitacea?. It is syncarpous, inferior, one-chambered, generally many-seeded, horny externally when ripe, and fleshy or pulpy within. The chayote or chocho (Sechium edule) is exceptional in having only one large seed; the squirting cucumber (Ecballium agreste) in bursting violently from its fruit stalk and so discharging its seeds. The pepos of various types, such as the pumpkins and snake-gourds, attain to an enormous size and assume fastastic forms: the vascular bundles of those of the towel-gourd (Luffa crgyptiaca) are durable; whilst our British cucurbit, the white bryony (Bryonia dioica) has a berry instead of a pepo - i.e. is not horny externally.