Cucurbitaceae Luffa aegyptiaca P.Miller

| |	© W.D. Hawthorne

Keywords in this picture :

• Fruit
• Flower & fruit
• Plant parts

Places where this species can be found :

• Grenada - GRENADA
• Adawso - Ampan road - NSBPGHANA

Species information

Description
Leaves 5-7 lobed, 15-20cm long, pale green, sandpapery; tendrils dividing into 3. Fruits without ridges; seeds winged. L. acutangula has sharply 10-ribbed fruits and winfless seeds.

Interest
Luffa - from the Arabica name. Dried fibrous interior of the elongated fruit is dried and used as a sponge (loofah). Used as a fribrous scrubbing device. This vine bears a fruit resemblance of the cucumber, and young ones can be eaten .However, there no record of the fruit being eaten in Grenada. When the fruit is dried the seeds are removed and the fiber is used for washing pots and pans by chefs and house wives. Those seeds are also used for making necklaces.

Specimen information

Collector
Hawthorne, W.D.

Specimen Number
s.n.