Luffa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Luffa

Egyptian luffa with nearly mature fruit

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Cucurbitales
Family:	Cucurbitaceae
Genus:	Luffa

Species

Luffa acutangula (Angled luffa, Ridged Luffa)
Luffa aegyptiaca (Smooth luffa, Egyptian luffa)
Luffa operculata (Sponge cucumber)

A luffa sponge whose coarse texture helps with skin polishing.

Luffa acutangula seeds. Each division of the ruler is 1 mm. Seeds of Luffa aegyptica look very similar.

The Luffa or Loofah/Lufah (from Arabic لوف) are tropical and subtropical vines comprising the genus Luffa. The fruit of at least two species, Luffa acutangula and Luffa aegyptiaca, is grown to be harvested before maturity and eaten as a vegetable, popular in Asia and Africa.

The Luffa acutangula is commonly known as Ridged Gourd and is called 'توری' in Urdu, "Bhol" in Assamese, 絲瓜 si¹gua¹ in Mandarin Chinese, Turai in Hindi, Jhinga in Bengali, Janhi in Oriya, Gisoda in Gujarati, Beerakaya in Telugu, heeray kAyi in Kannada, peechinga in Malayalam, wetakolu in Sinhala, mướp khía in Vietnamese language, patola in Tagalog, kabatiti in Ilocano, and gambas or oyong in Indonesia.

The fruit of L. aegyptiaca may also be allowed to mature and used as a bath or kitchen sponge after being processed to remove everything but the network of xylem. This version is called Lifah in Arabic, bhol in Assamese, dhundul in Bengali, ghiya tori or nerua in Hindi or "peerkankai" in Tamil or "beera kaya" in Telugu

Luffa species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Hypercompe albicornis.

A Luffa or Loofah sponge is used like a body scrub. Both the coarse textured sponge and the soft textured sponge are called Luffas or Loofahs. The latter soft textured luffa sponges aren't in fact derived from the luffa fruit, but are manufactured by folding in several layers of soft mesh-like fabric into a cloud-like shape; commonly used in tandem with shower gels/lotions.