One stalk usually bears one bottle gourd. This time, however, a single stalk has produced not one or two but 30. The unusual sight is at Jatrapur village in Chaugachha upazila of Jashore, where curious people are crowding to see the gourds on a vine at the home of Osman Ali, the muezzin of the village mosque.

Locals said a cluster of about 30 gourds is hanging from the trellis at Osman Ali's house. One of them is larger and may weigh about 300 grams; the rest weigh about 100 grams each, and they are still growing.

Osman Ali said he raised the seedlings from seed kept at home. From the start the vine bore good, large gourds; some were eaten and some given to neighbours. "A few days ago I suddenly saw several gourds on the same cluster and was a little surprised. Within days the same stalk, where the branch joins, split and countless gourds began to form. About 30 have set at the same spot, and several are getting bigger. It looks as if all the gourds are hanging from one bunch," he said. As the news spread, people began coming from different places to see them.

His brother Lokman Hossain said: "It is the first time in my life I have seen such a thing — 30 gourds together on one stalk. It seems amazing to me."

A young man named Sagar came from Chaugachha after hearing the news. "I was astonished when I saw it. Thirty gourds in one cluster seems miraculous to me," he said.

Chaugachha upazila agriculture officer Mushabbir Hossain said he had not seen such a case before. "It may be that many flowers formed from one stalk and, because they were properly pollinated, these gourds developed," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.