Rag gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca)
Description
Luffa aegyptiaca, sponge gourd, Egyptian cucumber, and also known as Vietnamese luffa, for Vietnam is its native habitat (Vietnamese: m--p h--ng), is a species of Luffa grown for its fruit. The plant is an annual vine, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The about-30-cm-long fruit resembles a cucumber in shape and size. Owing to its striking yellow flowers, Luffa aegyptiaca is occasionally grown as an ornamental. Luffa aegyptiaca is best grown with a trellis support. It requires lots of heat and lots of water to thrive. he young fruit is eaten as a vegetable and is commonly grown for that purpose in tropical Asia. Unlike the young fruit, the fully ripened fruit is strongly fibrous and inedible, and is used to make scrubbing bath sponges. Due to the use as a scrubbing sponge, it is also known by the common names dishrag gourd, rag gourd, sponge gourd, and vegetable-sponge. It is also called smooth luffa to distinguish it from the ridged luffa (Luffa acutangula), which is used for the same purposes. An edible oil can be extracted from the seeds. The resulting oil meal can be fed to rabbits and catfish, or used as a fertilizer.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Cucurbitales
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Family: Cucurbitaceae
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Genus: Luffa
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