Luffa aegyptiaca Mill.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
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Family
Cucurbitaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Herbaceous vine, monoecious, climbing by axillary tendrils, attaining 10 m in length. Stems green, slender, subcylindrical or angular, ribbed, glabrous or puberulous; tendrils trifid. Leaves alternate; blades 1 1-25 (35) x 7-25 (32) cm, 3-7-palmatilobed, chartaceous, the lobes lanceolate or ovate, the apices acute or acuminate, the base cordiform, the margins entire or serrate; upper surface scabrid; lower surface pale green, scabrid; petioles as long as or longer than the blade. Flowers unisexual, actinomorphic. Calyx green, campanulate, the lobes 12-15 mm long, lanceolate; corolla pale yellow, 2.5-4.5 cm long, the lobes ovate, obtuse. Staminate flowers in racemes 12-15 cm long; stamens 5, not exserted, the filaments free, 3-4 m long, villous. Pistillate flowers solitary, with a hypanthium ca. 3 cm long; ovary inferior, tricarpellate, ellipsoid, with numerous horizontal ovules, the style short, the stigmas globose. Fruit trigonal, slightly sulcate, 20-45 cm long, the pericarp crustose, dehiscent by apical pores, the mesocarp forming a network of fibers; seeds numerous, elliptical, 10-13 mm long, black, smooth
Phenology - Flowering from November to January and fruiting in January and from July to August.
Conservation Status - Exotic, cultivated and naturalized, uncommon.
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Common Names
esponja, estropajo, sponge cucumber, strainer vine