- Family: Cucurbitaceae Juss.
Luffa Mill.
This genus is accepted, and is native to Asia-Tropical, Africa, Southern America, Northern America and Australasia..
[FZ]
Cucurbitaceae, C. Jeffrey. Flora Zambesiaca 4. 1978
- Habit
- Annual prostrate or scandent herbs.
- Leaves
- Leaves simple, petiolate.
- Tendrils
- Tendrils proximally 2–6-fid.
- Receptacle
- Receptacle-tube broadly campanulate; lobes large, enclosing the petals in bud, entire.
- Corolla
- Petals 5, free, entire.
- Stamens
- Stamens 5, all one-thecous, or 3, 2 two-thecous & 1 one-thecous; filaments inserted on the receptacle-tube, free; anthers free; connectives broad; thecae much convoluted.
- Flowers
- Female flowers solitary; ovary smooth, ribbed, tuberculate or spiny; ovules many, horizontal; stigma 3-lobed. Male flowers racemose. Flowers yellow or whitish, monoecious.
- Fruits
- Fruit globose to cylindrical, rostrate, smooth, ribbed or spiny, dry, brownish, fibrous, dehiscent by an apical operculum.
- Seeds
- Seeds compressed, oblong-elliptic in outline.
[FSOM]
M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS
- Habit
- Annual climbing or trailing herbs
- Leaves
- Leaves simple
- Tendrils
- Tendrils 2–6-fid
- Inflorescences
- Male flowers racemose Monoecious or dioecious
- Hypanthium
- Hypanthium broadly campanulate
- Calyx
- Sepals 5, large, enclosing the petals in bud
- Corolla
- Petals 5, free, yellow or white
- Stamens
- Stamens 5, all one-thecous, or 3, 2 two-thecous, 1 one-thecous, inserted on the hypanthium, free; connective broad; thecae convoluted
- Flowers
- Female flowers solitary
- Ovary
- Ovary smooth, ribbed or spiny
- Ovules
- Ovules numerous, horizontal
- Fruits
- Fruit dry, brownish, fibrous, smooth, ribbed or spiny, dehiscent by an apical lid
- Seeds
- Seeds compressed, black.
- Distribution
- Nine species, palaeotropical and neotropical.
[FTEA]
Cucurbitaceae, C. Jeffrey. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1967
- Habit
- Climbing or trailing herbs
- Leaves
- Leaves simple; blade palmately lobed
- Tendrils
- Tendrils proximally 3–6-fid, less often bifid
- Flowers
- Flowers medium to large yellow, monoecious Male flowers racemose; receptacle-tube shortly campanulate; lobes relatively large, enclosing petals in bud, entire; petals 5, free, entire; stamens 5, all 1-thecous, in 2 pairs with one single, or the paired stamens variously united, when completely so stamens appearing as 3, 2 double 2-thecous, 1 single 1-thecous; filaments inserted on the tube, free; anthers free; connective broad; thecae marginal, much convoluted Female flowers solitary; ovary smooth, ribbed, tuberculate or spiny; ovules many, horizontal; receptacle-tube short; stigmas 3, bilobed
- Male
- Male flowers racemose; receptacle-tube shortly campanulate; lobes relatively large, enclosing petals in bud, entire; petals 5, free, entire; stamens 5, all 1-thecous, in 2 pairs with one single, or the paired stamens variously united, when completely so stamens appearing as 3, 2 double 2-thecous, 1 single 1-thecous; filaments inserted on the tube, free; anthers free; connective broad; thecae marginal, much convoluted
- Female
- Female flowers solitary; ovary smooth, ribbed, tuberculate or spiny; ovules many, horizontal; receptacle-tube short; stigmas 3, bilobed
- Fruits
- Fruit medium-sized to large, subglobose to elongate-cylindrical, beaked, smooth, ribbed or sparsely to densely spiny with short to rather long spines, brownish, dry and fibrous, dehiscent by an apical operculum
- Seeds
- Seeds medium-sized, distinctly compressed, oblong-elliptic in outline
- Figures
- Fig. 10.
Native to:
Assam, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Costa Rica, East Himalaya, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, India, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Territory, Pakistan, Panamá, Peru, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, West Himalaya, Western Australia
Introduced into:
Albania, Andaman Is., Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Benin, Bismarck Archipelago, Brazil South, Burkina, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Repu, Chagos Archipelago, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Congo, Cook Is., Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Fiji, Florida, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Gulf States, Hainan, Haiti, Illinois, Inner Mongolia, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jawa, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Leeward Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Louisiana, Malawi, Maldives, Maluku, Manchuria, Marianas, Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mozambique, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., North Carolina, Oman, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Qinghai, Rwanda, Réunion, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Is., South Carolina, Southwest Caribbean, Tadzhikistan, Tanzania, Texas, Thailand, Tibet, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuelan Antilles, Vietnam, Virginia, Wallis-Futuna Is., Windward Is., Xinjiang, Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe
Luffa Mill. appears in other Kew resources:
| Date | Reference | Identified As | Barcode | Type Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| s.coll. [Cat. no. s.n.] | K001132351 |
First published in Gard. Dict. Abr. ed. 4: s.p. (1754)
Literature
Flora of West Tropical Africa
- —F.T.A. 2: 530.
Flora Zambesiaca
- Gard. Diet, abridg. ed. 4 (1754).
Flora of Somalia
- Flora Somalia, Vol 1, (1993) Author: by C. Jeffrey & M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]
Flora of Tropical East Africa
- Gard. Dict., Abridg. ed. 4 [without pagination] (1754)
Flora Zambesiaca
Flora Zambesiaca
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Flora of Somalia
Flora of Somalia
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
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Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0