Ridge Gourd

Ridge Gourd

Scientific name:  Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.

English name: Ridge gourd

Local name: ‘Jhinga’

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Taxonomic Position According to Cronquist (1988)

Botanical Description of Ridge Gourd

An annual, climbing herb. Stem 5- angled, scabrous along ribs. Tendrils robust, often 3- fid, puberulous. Leaves subcircular, membranous, 15-20 x 15-20 cm, often 5-7 lobed, median lobe broadly triangular, lateral lobes smaller, apex acute or acuminate, margin dentate, sinus subrounded, both surfaces puberulous, petioles 8-12 cm long, scabrous. Plants monoecious. Male flowers: 17-20 flowered in racemes at the apex of peduncle, peduncles 10-15 cm long, pedicels 1-4 cm long, white-puberulous, probracts 3-7 x 2-4 mm, fleshy, green, ovate with 3-10 glistening glands on the upper surface, calyx tube campanulate, lobes lanceolate, 4-6 x 2-3 mm, apex acuminate, slightly reflexed, densely white-pubescent, 1-nerved, corolla pale yellow, lobes obcordate, 15-25 x 10-20 mm, both surfaces subglabrous, stamens 3, free, 1 unilocular, 2 bilocular, filaments 3-4 mm long,bearded at the base, anthers puberulous. Female flowers: peduncles 5-10 cm long, ovary elongate, 10-angular, apex constricted, style short, stigmas 3, expanded, 2-lipped. Fruits clavate-oblong, acutely 10-angled, apex obtuse or slightly acute. Seeds ovate, verrucose, 10-12 x 7-8 mm, c 2 mm thick, black.

Economic importance: The fruit is used as vegetable and is eaten when tender. The leaves are used as poultice in leprosy and in splenitis. Ripe seeds are bitter and have emetic and purgative properties.

Table 1. Ridge gourd variety developed by BARI, Joydebpur, Gazipur