In his Materia Medica the great 16th-century Chinese pharmacologist Li Shih-chen classifies gourds into various categories according to shape and function.
中國的大醫學家李時珍所著中藥聖典「本草綱目」裡是這樣說的：「壺是一種酒器，蘆是一種飯器，由於壺蘆這種東西很像壺、蘆，又可為酒飯之器，因以名之；故俗稱壺蘆。葫蘆是不對的，況且葫乃蒜名，蘆乃葦屬也。」