Botanical Name Plant's Common Name Plant Family   

   MC019 : Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.

Plant Category : Climbers

Melghat's Flora's Serial No. : 210

Synonym : Cucumis acutangulus L.; Cucumis lineatus Bosc; Cucumis longus var. indicus Grew; Cucumis megacarpus G.Don; Cucumis operculatus Roxb. ex Wight & Arn.; Cucurbita acutangula (L.) Blume; Luffa acutangula var. amara C.B.Clarke; Luffa acutangula var. forskalii (Schweinf. ex Harms) Heiser & E.E.Schill.; Luffa amara Roxb.; Luffa drastica Mart.; Luffa fluminensis Roem.; Luffa foetida Cav.; Luffa forskalii Schweinf. ex Harms; Luffa gosa Ham.; Momordica tubiflora Wall.;

Plant Common Name : Jangli Dodka,Jungle Turai, angled loofah, Chinese okra, dish-cloth gourd, ribbed gourd, ribbed loofah, ridged gourd, silk gourd, silky gourd, sinkwa towelsponge, sinqua melon, vegetable sponge;

Plant Family : Cucurbitaceae

Description : A plant of the lowland tropics, where it can be grown at elevations up to 500 metres; It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 32°c, but can tolerate 15 - 38°c; It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,200 - 2,000mm, but tolerates 700 - 3,000mm;

Plant Location in Melghat : In Dhargad,Kelpani and Jarida

Medicinal Use / Activity : The seeds are emetic and purgative; They are eaten to expel intestinal worms; The fruits and seeds are used in herbal preparations for the treatment of venereal diseases, particularly gonorrhea; A leaf extract is applied on sores caused by guinea worms to kill the parasite; The leaf sap is applied to skin affections such as eczema, and is used as an eyewash to cure conjunctivitis; The glycoprotein luffaculin, isolated from the seeds, exhibits abortifacient, antitumour, ribosome inactivating and immunomodulatory activities.

Plant's Phytochemicals : COMPOUNDS: 1,8 dihydroxy-4-methylanthracene 9,10-dione; p-coumaric acid; Gallic acid; Protocatechuic acid; Ferulic acid;

ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (2):

Ferulic acid;

Gallic Acid;

Plant's Current Status : Not Common

Plant's Cross Database Reference : 259142

Reference : Dhore M. A. (1984) The flora of melghat tiger reserve

Reference : ~ Kuldip S. Dogra, Sandeep Chauhan and Jeewan S. Jalal; "Assessment of Indian medicinal plants for the treatment of asthma"; Journal of Medicinal Plants Research (2015); 9(32): 851-862 PMID :

~ Dhore MA and Joshi PA; "Flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve"; Directorate, Project Tiger, Melghat (1988); PMID :

Kingdom : Plantae - Plants
Phylum : Tracheophyta
Subkingdom : Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision : Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division : Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class : Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass : Dilleniidae
Order : Violales
Family : Cucurbitaceae - Cucumber family
Genus : Luffa Mill. - luffa
Species : Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb. - sinkwa towelsponge

Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb. - sinkwa towelsponge
Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb. - sinkwa towelsponge
Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb. - sinkwa towelsponge