| |
Luffa acutangula var. amara
|
| |
|
| |
Family:
CUCURBITACEAE
|
| |
Citation: Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb., Fl. Ind. 3: 713. 1832; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 533(377). 1919; Jeffrey, Kew Bull. 34: 792. 1980: var. amara (Roxb.) Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 615. 1879; Chakrav., Fasc. Fl. Ind. 11: 70. 1982; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 204. 1996; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 292. 1997.
|
| |
Malayalam Name(s):
Athanga, Kattupeechil, Kayappanpadalavam
|
| |
Tamil name(s):
|
| |
English name(s):
|
| |
Description:
Monecious, climbing annuals; stem angular, glabrous, scabrid at angles only, sulcate when dry. Leaves alternate, 7-12 x 6-10 cm, palmately 5-angled, scabrid on both surfaces especially on nerves beneath, at length punctate above, pale green; margins denticulate, cordate at base; petioles 1-3 cm long, pubescent; tendrils 3-fid, pubescent. Male flowers in 10-20 flowered axillary racemes. Calyx pubescent, lobes obscurely, longitudinally keeled. Corolla obcordate, rounded or scarcely emaginate, lobes spreading. Stamens 3. Female flowers on 5-7 cm long peduncles, solitary in the same axils as male peduncles. Ovary prominently ribbed. Fruit 5-8 x 3-3.5 cm, clavate, narrowing into the pedicel, longitudinally 10-angled, smooth; seeds 8-9 x 5 mm, black, beaked, narrowly winged in the beak region only, verrucose, compressed.
|
| |
Habit:
Climber
|
| |
Flowering & Fruiting:
September-December
|
| |
District(s):
Malappuram, Thrissur
|
| |
Medicinal:
Yes
|
| |
Habitat:
Moist deciduous forests
|
| |
Distribution:
India
|
| |
Aquatic:
No
|
| |
Epiphyte(s):
No
|
| |
Saprophyte:
No
|
| |
Stem parasite:
No
|
| |
Root parasite:
No
|
| |
Flower colour(s):
Yellow
|
| |
Weed:
No
|
| |
Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
|
| |
Exotic:
No
|
| |
Garden:
No
|
| |
Edible:
No
|
| |
Vegetable:
No
|
| |
Endemic to:
|
| |
IUCN status:
|
| |
Altitude:
|
| |
Localities:
Peechi, Kanjirakadavu
|