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Trichosanthes cucumerina anguina

Common name:	Snake Gourd	Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Author:	(L.)Haines.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:	Trichosanthes anguina (L.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	E. Asia - India.
Habitat:	Not known
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	T. cucumerina var. anguina[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Khyar [E], Pudal [E], Snake Gourd [H], Snakegourd [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	anguina = snake like
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Violales. Cucumber family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	India Philippines

Physical Characteristics

Annual Climber growing to 5m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 10 and is frost tender. It is in flower from July to September, and the seeds ripen from September to October. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 1/5 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

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Fruit Leaves.

Young fruit - cooked[1, 46, 61]. It can be used in curries or eaten as a vegetable like green beans[2, 86, 183]. Mature fruits can be up to 2 metres long and 10cm thick[2, 200].
The bright red pulp around the mature seeds is extracted and used in cooking in much the same way that tomatoes are used[183].
Leaves and young shoots - cooked[183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Anthelmintic Emetic Purgative.

The fruit is considered to be anthelmintic, emetic and purgative[240].
The seed is said to be cooling[240].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Requires a rich well-drained soil and plenty of moisture in the growing season[1].
Cultivated in India for its edible fruit it is not hardy in Britain, requiring greenhouse cultivation[200], though it may be possible to grow it as an annual in a very warm sheltered bed outdoors[1]. The plant is very variable in the shape of the fruit, there are some named varieties[183]. Plants grow best with short daylengths and stable temperatures above 25° c[200].
Plants climb by means of tendrils[188] and also have a slightly twining stem[219].
A weight is sometimes attached to the growing fruit to ensure that it grows straight[183].

Propagation

Seed - sow March in pots in a warm greenhouse in a rich soil. Sow 2 - 3 seeds per pot and thin to the strongest plant. Grow them on fast and plant out after the last expected frosts. Give them some protection, such as a frame or cloche, until the plants are growing away well.

Cultivars

'': No entries have been made for this species as yet.

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.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Trichosanthes anguina (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina (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.

[86] Organ. J. Gourds. Faber 1963
Deals with squashes and their relatives. Interesting and readable, it gives cultivation techniques and some details of plant uses.

[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.

[188] Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. 1990 ISBN 0-86318-386-7
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[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.

[219] Grey-Wilson. C. & Matthews. V. Gardening on Walls Collins 1983 ISBN 0-00-219220-0
A nice little book about plants for growing against walls and a small section on plants that can grow in walls.

[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

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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