Narratives Details:
Title:
Momordica charantia L.
Momordica charantia L.
Authors:
Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne
Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne
Scientific Name:
Momordica charantia L., Momordica zeylanica Mill.
Momordica charantia L., Momordica zeylanica Mill.
Description:
Flora Borinqueña Momordica Charantia Cundeamor Wild Balsam-apple Family Cucurbitaceae Gourd Family Momordica Charantia Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 1009. 1753. Momordica zeylanica Miller, Gardeners' Dictionary, edition 8, no.3.1768. Familiar by its large, yellow, rough, fleshy fruit, the Wild Balsam Apple is plentiful, locally, in Porto Rico, growing in hedges, thickets, fields and waste grounds. It is an herbaceous vine, several meters long, with deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers. Geographically it is distributed nearly throughout tropical, subtropical, and warm-temperate America, northward as far as Florida, and is supposed to be native; in America, it appears to have been introduced, long ago. Momordica (Latin, of uncertain application) is a genus of herbaceous vines, established by Linnaeus; about 25 species, natives of the Old World, are known; they climb by slender, sometimes forked tendrils, their alternate, thin, stalked, lobed leaves are broad, and lobed, their flowers are imperfect, the staminate ones clustered, or solitary, the pistillate (fruiting) ones solitary. Both kinds of flowers have a 5-lobed calyx and a broad, spreading, 5-parted corolla; the staminate, usually have 3 short stamens borne on the mouth of the corolla; the pistillate ones have a 1-celled ovary containing many, horizontal ovules, a slender style and 2 stigmas. The fruit is fleshy, ovoid to cylindric, splitting, when ripe, into 3 valves, or falling without opening. Momordica Charantia (ancient name of the vine) is a slender, more or less hairy vine, which many reach a length of about 8 meters. The unbranched, very slender tendrils are opposite the long leaf-stalks. The nearly orbicular leaves are from 4 to 12 centimeters broad, deeply 5-lobed to 7-lobed, the pointed or blunt lobes toothed. The stalk of the staminate flowers bears an ovate, heart-shaped bract at or below the middle; the calyx-segments are oval or ovate, from 3 to 4.5 millimeters long, the yellow, blunt or notched corolla-segments from 1.5 to 2 centimeters long. The yellow, tubercled fruit is from 2 to 12 centimeters long, splitting when ripe and disclosing the flat seeds, from 12 to 16 millimeters long, with scarlet arils. This is the only species of Momordica wild in Porto Rico; the true Balsam-apple, Momordica Balsamina, sometimes grown in gardens, has orange-red fruit.
Flora Borinqueña Momordica Charantia Cundeamor Wild Balsam-apple Family Cucurbitaceae Gourd Family Momordica Charantia Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 1009. 1753. Momordica zeylanica Miller, Gardeners' Dictionary, edition 8, no.3.1768. Familiar by its large, yellow, rough, fleshy fruit, the Wild Balsam Apple is plentiful, locally, in Porto Rico, growing in hedges, thickets, fields and waste grounds. It is an herbaceous vine, several meters long, with deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers. Geographically it is distributed nearly throughout tropical, subtropical, and warm-temperate America, northward as far as Florida, and is supposed to be native; in America, it appears to have been introduced, long ago. Momordica (Latin, of uncertain application) is a genus of herbaceous vines, established by Linnaeus; about 25 species, natives of the Old World, are known; they climb by slender, sometimes forked tendrils, their alternate, thin, stalked, lobed leaves are broad, and lobed, their flowers are imperfect, the staminate ones clustered, or solitary, the pistillate (fruiting) ones solitary. Both kinds of flowers have a 5-lobed calyx and a broad, spreading, 5-parted corolla; the staminate, usually have 3 short stamens borne on the mouth of the corolla; the pistillate ones have a 1-celled ovary containing many, horizontal ovules, a slender style and 2 stigmas. The fruit is fleshy, ovoid to cylindric, splitting, when ripe, into 3 valves, or falling without opening. Momordica Charantia (ancient name of the vine) is a slender, more or less hairy vine, which many reach a length of about 8 meters. The unbranched, very slender tendrils are opposite the long leaf-stalks. The nearly orbicular leaves are from 4 to 12 centimeters broad, deeply 5-lobed to 7-lobed, the pointed or blunt lobes toothed. The stalk of the staminate flowers bears an ovate, heart-shaped bract at or below the middle; the calyx-segments are oval or ovate, from 3 to 4.5 millimeters long, the yellow, blunt or notched corolla-segments from 1.5 to 2 centimeters long. The yellow, tubercled fruit is from 2 to 12 centimeters long, splitting when ripe and disclosing the flat seeds, from 12 to 16 millimeters long, with scarlet arils. This is the only species of Momordica wild in Porto Rico; the true Balsam-apple, Momordica Balsamina, sometimes grown in gardens, has orange-red fruit.
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