atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb. "angled loofah", "vegetable sponge", "ridge gourd",
"dish-cloth gourd" sze kwa (C)
syn. Cucumis acutangulus L.
Pre-World War I1 introduction . India, Paleotropics. Occasional. Stout, climbing,
glabrous, herbaceous, annual vine, with pentagonal stems, 3- or more-forked tendrils and
fetid when bruised; leaves, 10 to 24 cm long and wide, rounded, rather shallowly
palmately 5- to 7-lobed, coarsely and shallowly toothed, scabrous, pale beneath; flowers,
4 to 5 cm in diameter, monoecious, axillary, pale yellow, 5-petaled, petals almost
completely distinct, male and female flowers borne together in the same axil, opening in
the late afternoon or evening; male flowers, in racemes of several flowers, peduncle 10
to 25 cm long, stamens 3; female flowers, solitary, stigmas 3, ovary 10-ribbed; fruit, 15
to 40 cm long and 5 to 10 cm in diameter, green to gray-green, very narrowly obovoid,
with 10 acute longitudinal ridges or ribs, crowned with enlarged sepals and style; flesh,
white, somewhat spongy, becoming fibrous when old; seeds, 10 to 13 mm long and 7 to
9 cm wide, black, pitted, flattened. Climbing foodplant in Chinese gardens at Location
and Topside. Young green fruit cooked as a vegetable. 4(162N), 5, 6, 7, 8(9577).
Luffa cylindrica (L.) Roem. var. insularurn (A. Gray) Cogn. "smooth loofah",
"wild vegetable sponge", "scrubber gourd", "dish-cloth gourd"
syns. Momordica cylindrica L. ; M. lufa L.; LufSa acgyptica Mill.; L. insularum
A. Gray
Pre-World War I1 introduction; although variety insularum seems to be indigenous
to many Pacific islands, it was probably introduced to Nauru. Trop. Asia. Locally
common. Vigorous, climbing, somewhat pubescent, herbaceous annual vine, with
pentagonal stems and 2- to 3-, or more-forked tendrils; leaves, to 20 cm long and nearly
as wide, much longer than petiole, orbicular-ovate to almost kidney-shaped (subreni-
form), deeply 5- to 7-angled or -lobed, acuminate or acute, base deeply cordate with
open sinus; petiole, 5 to 10 cm long, scabrid or hispid; flowers, 5 to 9 cm in diameter,
monoecious, axillary, yellow, petals almost completely distinct, male and female flowers
in the same axil, opening in the early morning; male flowers, 4 to 20, crowded near the
end of a solitary axillary peduncle, stamens 5; female flowers, solitary, stigmas 3, ovary
not ribbed; fruit, 12 to 30 cm long, oblong-cylindrical, smooth or slightly ribbed or
striped, crowned with stout sepals and style, fleshy at first, becoming dry; flesh, white,
spongy, becoming fibrous when old; seeds, 10 to 15 mm long, black, smooth, flat,
faintly winged. Weedy found on edges of forest, waste places, and spreading over
Topside topsoil dump on plateau. 3(58587, 5873 I), 5(75), 6, 7.