331 



soil recommended is alluvium, rendered porous by the admixture of 

 lime (Kew Bull. 1907, p. 374). The fruit ripens in from 4 to 6 months, 

 and may be cut when yellow or quite ripe, and dried. 



The culture would be suitable uuder irrigation. See end of 

 Cucurbitaceae for general cultural details. 



Re/. — " Lagenaria vulgaris" in Field & Garden Crops, N. W. 



Prov. & Oudh, Duthie & Fuller, ii. pp. 48-49. " Lagenaria 



vulgaris" in Diet. Econ. Prod. India, Watt, iv. 1890, pp. 580-581. 



" Courge Bouteille," in Les PI. Potageres, Vilmorin Andrieux, pp. 



219-221; Engl. Trans. Robinson, pp. 338-341. " Calebasse," in 



L'Agric. prat, des pays chauds, vii. 1, 1907, pp. 324-328. 



" Calabash Tobacco Pipes," in Kew Bull. 1907, p. 374. The South 



African Pipe Calabash, Fairchild & Collins, U.S. Dept. xlgric. Bureau 

 of PI. Industry, Circ. No. 41, 1909, pp. 1-9, illustrated. 



Luffa, Cav. 



Luffa acutangula, Roxb. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 530. 



III. — Grew, Rarities, Roy. Soc. t. 17, f, 2 (Indian Gourd, Gucumis 

 longus indicus) ; Jacq. Hort. Bot. Vindob. iii. tt. 73, 74 {Gucumis 

 acutangulus) ; Cav. Ic. i. tt. 9, 10 {Luffa /oetida) ; Rheede, Hort. 

 Mai. viii. t. 7 < Rumpf, Amb. v. t. 149 {Petola bengalensis) ; Bot. 

 Mag. t. 1638 {L. /oetida) ; Veil. Fl. Fluni. x. t. 93 {Momordica Luffa) ; 

 Duthie, Field Crops, t. 62 ; Bull. Eccn. Indo-Chine, 1905, p. 1201 ; 

 L'Agric. prat, pays chauds, vii. 1, p. 250. 



Vernac. names. — Karamui (Sierra Leone, Scott Elliot) ; Papengaye 

 (Negro, Naudin, Moloney) ; Jhinga (India, Watt, Rose) ; Kali tori 

 (India, Duthie), — Vegetable Sponge of the W. Indies, Strainer Vine, 

 Luffa. 



Tropical Africa ; Asia, and throughout the Tropics. 



Fruit used for washing, Sierra Leone (Scott Elliot, Herb. Kew), 

 Jamaica (Fawcett, Econ. PI. Jamaica, p. 5J); the cultivated variety is 

 used as a vegetable in India, but the wild variety is bitter and 

 poisonous (Bose, Calcutta, Med. Journ. i. 1906, p. 73) ; used chiefly 

 in curries, and as a vegetable, when half grown (Duthie, Field Crops, 

 ii. p. 60), or not more than 4 in. long (Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. India). 



According to Naudin (Ann. Sc. Nat. Paris, Series 4, xii. 1859, 

 p. 122) there are both bitter and poisonous, and edible sweet varieties 

 and the plant readily hybridises with Luffa aegyptiaca. 



Re/. — "Luffa acutangula" and u var. amara" in Diet. Econ. 



Prod. India, Watt, v. 1. 1891, pp. 94-96. " Pipangaye,"Desruisseaux, 



in L'Agric. prat, des pays chauds, vii. 1, 1907 ; " Cucurbitaceas 

 Tropicales," pp. 248-252. 



Luffa aegyptiaca, Mill. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 530. 



UL— Rheede. Hort. Mai. viii. t. 8 ; Rumpf. Amb. v. t. 147 ; Wight, 

 Ic. PI. Ind. Or. ii. t. 499 {Luffa pentandra) ; Wight, 111. t. 10") his 

 {L. pentandra) ; Duthie, Field Crops, t. 63 ; Med. Journ. Calcutta, 

 i. 1906, t. 1 (bitter var.) ; De Wildeman, PI. Util. Congo, ii. fasc. i. 

 p. 131, f. 8 {L. cylindrica, fruit deprived of pulp & seeds). 



Vernac. names. — Tita Dhoondool — bitter variety (India, Rai Ghuni 

 Lai Rose); Beng Dhoondool — edible variety (India, Rose). — Soolay 

 Qua, Loofah, Towel Gourd, Bonnet Gourd, Dish Cloth Gourd, 

 Vegetable Sponge. 



Niger (Vogel, Barter). Tropics generally. 



