332 



The dried net-work of the fruit is used largely for washing 

 purposes, like sponges ; for making brashes and boot-socks. 



The fruits are gathered when turning ripe, dried under cover in a 

 free current of air, skinned, the seeds removed, and baled. They 

 usually come into commerce pressed flat in the bales, which contain 

 from 1200 to 5000, according to the size of the loofahs (from 10 to 20 

 inches long), sold when filled out again at from about 12s. to 725. a 

 gross. The supplies come chiefly from Japan. 



The fruits when young are eaten as a vegetable in Japan, India 

 (Watt, Duthie) and other eastern countries. There is a bitter variety 

 which possesses toxic principles, indistinguishable from the edible 

 form, except that the fruits are darker in colour and the taste 

 extremely bitter (Bose, Culcutta, Med. Journ. i. 1906, p. 66). 



Ref. — ik Luffa aegyptiaca" in Diet. Econ. Prod. India, Watt, v. 1, 



1891, pp. 96-97. " Luffa cylindrical in PI. Utiles du Congo, De 



Wildeman, ii. fasc. i. Art. vi. pp. 130-132 (Spineaux & Co. Bruxelles, 



1906). " The Toxic Principles of the Fruits of Luffa aegyptiaca 



(Bitter variety)," Rai Chuni Lai Bose, Bahadur, in Calcutta Medical 

 Journ. 1st Sept. 1906, pp. 65-72, with a table of the more important 



plants in Cucurbitaceae and their Uses, pp. 72-74. "Where 



Loofahs Come From," in Pharm. Journ. [4] xxxii. 1911, pp. 271-272, 

 illustrated, method of cultivating plants suspended on poles, 



gathering, curing and cleaning loofahs. " The Preparation of 



Loofahs for the Market," in Agric. Journ. Cape of Good Hope, xxxvii. 

 Dec. 1910, pp. 651-652 ; Abstract in Agric. News, Barbados, x. 

 1911, p. 84. 



Benincasa, Savi. 



Benincasa cerifera, Savi. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 532. 



111. — Rheede, Hort. Mai. viii. t. 3 (B. hispida, Cumbulain) ; J acq. 

 Eclogae PI. Rar. ii. tt. 153, 154, tt. 155, 156 (B. cylindrica) ; Rev. 

 Hort. 1887-, p. 540 ; Duthie, Field Crops, t. 45 ; Yilmorin-Andrieux, 

 PL Potageres, p. 37. 



Vemac. names. — [Condol or Kondol (Philippines) ; Condor or 

 Kondot (Guam) Safford~] ; Togan (Japan, Hayashi). — Wax Gourd, 

 Ash Pumpkin, White Gourd, White Gourd Melon. 



N. Nigeria (Watson, Herb. Kew). Cultivated in other parts of 

 Africa, in India, China, Philippines, Japan and most warm countries. 



The fruit is commonly eaten as a vegetable, like the vegetable 

 marrow ; a favourite on the table, Japan (Hayashi, Journ. Roy. 

 Hort. Soc. xxx. 1906, p. 23) ; used in curry, and made into a sweet- 

 meat (Diet. Econ. Prod. India). Various medicinal uses are attri- 

 buted to it in India (I.e.). 



The gourd is covered with a white waxy substance, suggested for 

 the manufacture of candles (Watt, Comm. Prod. India, p. 130). 



Ref. — " Benincasa cerifera" in Field & Garden Crops, N. W. Prov. 

 & Oudh, Duthie & Fuller, ii. pp. 43-44 (Thomason Civil Engineering 



College Press, Roorkee, 1883). "Benincasa cerifera" in Diet. 



Econ. Prod. India, Watt, i. 1889, pp. 439-441. 



Cladosicyos, Hook. f. 



Cladosicyos edulis, Hook. f. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 534. 

 Aboh (Barter No. 483, Herb. Kew). Also recorded from Sierra 

 Leone, Angola, and Monbuttu, East Africa. 



Fruit edible (Barter, I.e.) ; root poisonous (Bates, Herb. Kew). 



