Menu list goes here

Herbal Database Search Results

Back to: Pathways Main Search Page For Metaphysical uses visit The Witchs Haven

Coccinia grandis

Common name:	Ivy Gourd	Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Author:	(L.)J.Voigt.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:	Coccinia indica (Wight.& Arn.), Coccinia cordifolia (auct.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Tropical Asia To Africa.
Habitat:	Deciduous bush, savannah, dry evergreen forest and thickets[200]. Moist neglected places, especially on hedges, to elevations of 1400 metres in Nepal[272].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Bryonia cordifolia[G] Bryonia grandis[B,P] Bryonia scabrella[G] C. cordifolia auct. non[P] Coccinea cordifolia[] Cucumis maderaspatanus[G] Melothria maderaspatana[G] Mukia maderaspatana[G] Mukia scabrella[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Bolu Teke [E], Ivy Gourd [P,B], Kapasan [E], Papasan [E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	grandis = large
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Violales. Cucumber family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	India India(Gujarat) India(Santal) Moluccas
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Hawaii, Western Australia.

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 3m. It is hardy to zone 9. It is in flower from August to September. The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required). The plant not is self-fertile. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Sunny Edge, By Walls, By South Wall, By West Wall.

Edible Uses

Fruit Leaves.

Young leaves and long slender stem tops - cooked and eaten as a potherb or added to soups[46, 61, 105, 177, 183, 272].
Young and tender green fruits - raw in salads or cooked and added to curries etc[2, 46, 61, 105, 177, 183].
Ripe scarlet fruit - raw. Fleshy and sweet[183]. The fruit is up to 5cm long[200].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Hypoglycaemic Laxative Miscellany Ophthalmic Poultice VD.

The juice of the roots and leaves is considered to be a useful treatment for diabetes[240, 272].
The juice of the stem is dripped into the eyes to treat cataracts[272].
The leaves are used as a poultice in treating skin eruptions[240].
The plant is laxative[61]. It is used internally in the treatment of gonorrhoea[240].
Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of the plant have shown hypoglycaemic principles[240].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Succeeds in any soil[1] but prefers a sunny sheltered position in a humus-rich open soil[164]. Keep the plant well watered in the growing season[164].
Occasionally cultivated for its edible fruit in tropical and sub-tropical zones[46, 61], this plant is not hardy in Britain and normally requires greenhouse protection if it is to fruit here[200]. However, it may succeed outdoors as a tender annual in hot summers if given a suitable position and started off early in the greenhouse.
Dioecious, male and female plants must be grown if seed and fruits are required.

Propagation

Seed - sow March in a warm greenhouse in pots of fairly rich soil placing 2 - 3 seeds in each pot. The seed usually germinates within 2 - 4 weeks at 20° c[164]. Thin to the best seedling in each pot and grow them on fast, giving occasional liquid feeds. Plant out after the last expected frosts and give the plants some protection such as a cloche until they are growing away well.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Latin and Worldwide Common Names From Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database by M. H. Porcher et. al. 1995 - 2000 Landcare Systems Research Laboratory, Department of Crop Production,Institute of Land and Food Resources, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Coccinia cordifolia (a possible synonym).

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

References for Coccinia indica (a possible synonym).

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

References for Mukia maderaspatana (a possible synonym).

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[164] Bird. R. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 4. Thompson and Morgan. 1990
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. A good article on Yuccas, one on Sagebrush (Artemesia spp) and another on Chaerophyllum bulbosum.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

Back to: Pathways Home page, Main Search Page Help Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Coccinia+grandis
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Coccinia+grandis

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
(You can copy, distribute, display this works but: Attribution is required, its for Non-Commercial purposes, and it's Share Alike (GNUish/copyleft) i.e. has an identical license.)
We also ask that you let us know (michael@thewitchshaven.com) if you link to, redistribute, make a derived work or do anything groovy with this information.

Pathways Home :: View Cart :: Shipping & Returns :: Contact Us :: Privacy Policy :: Philosophy :: The Witchs Haven

We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.