Luffa

• Authority

  Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.

• Family

  Cucurbitaceae

• Scientific Name

  Luffa

• Description

  Description - Herbaceous vines, monoecious, with axillary tendrils; latex watery. Leaves alternate, petiolate; blades simple, 5-7-lobed; stipules absent. Flowers unisexual, actinomorphic; calyx campanulate, with 5 elongate lobes; corolla rotate, the lobes deep; staminate flowers in axillary racemes; stamens 3-5, not exserted, the filaments free; pistillate flowers solitary, with 3 staminodia; ovary inferior, elongate, tricarpellate, the styles 3, connate at the base, the stigmas forming a trilobed capitulum. Fruits elongate, dehiscent by apical pores, the mesocarp with a fibrous reticulum; seeds numerous, compressed, winged or not, not arillate. An Old World genus of about 10 species, some of which are cultivated throughout the tropics for their useful fruits.