Trichosanthes cucumerina
Species of vine / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Trichosanthes cucumerina is a tropical or subtropical vine. Its variety T. cucumerina var. anguina raised for its strikingly long fruit. In Asia, it is eaten immature as a vegetable much like the summer squash and in Africa, the reddish pulp of mature snake gourd is used as an economical substitute for tomato.[2] Common names for the cultivated variety include snake gourd[note 1],[4] serpent gourd,[4] chichinda[4] padwal[4] and Snake Tomato[4].
Snake gourd | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Cucurbitales |
Family: | Cucurbitaceae |
Genus: | Trichosanthes |
Species: | T. cucumerina |
Binomial name | |
Trichosanthes cucumerina | |
Synonyms[1] | |
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Trichosanthes cucumerina is found in the wild across much of South and Southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar(Burma) and southern China (Guangxi and Yunnan).[5] It is also regarded as native in northern Australia.[6][7] and naturalized in Florida,[8] parts of Africa and on various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.[9]
Formerly, the cultivated form was considered a distinct species, T. anguina, but it is now generally regarded as conspecific with the wild populations, as they freely interbreed:[1]
- Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina (L.) Haines ā cultivated variant
- Trichosanthes cucumerina var. cucumerina ā wild variant