Odisha forest blocks are rich in wild cucurbits which have potent medicinal and nutarational value.
Botany of Cucurbits
Herbaceous, more rarely shrubby , prostrate or climbing by means of tendrils. Leaves alternate exstipulate , simple palmately lobed or pedately divided. Tendrils mostly present , solitary , lateral , simple or divided. Inflorescence axillary , racemose, umbellate or solitary, clustered or paniculate. Flowers small or large, 5-merous , regular , monoecious or dioecious, yellow or white.fruits usually a fleshy berry, indehiscent or dehiscing by valves or by a circumscissile lid.seeds usually many, in pulp or fibre ,often compressed; outer testa often corrugated and margined, inner membranous;albumen 0;cotyledons fleshy or foliaceous.
Some Wild cucurbits
· Coccinia grandis L.
· Cucumis melo L.
· Cucumis hardwickii Royle.
· Diplocyclos palmatus L.
· Luffa acutangula L.
· Luffa aegyptiaca Mill.
· Solina amplexicaulis Lam.
· Mukia maderaspatana L.
· Trichosanthes cucumerina L.
· Trichosanthes tricuspidata Lour.
Trichosanthes tricuspidata Lour.
Mahakal – oriya, lal indrayan – bengoli
Large climbers;stem suffruticose, branches long pendent. Leaves broadly ovate,simple or deeply palmatyely 3-5 lobed, cordate,denticulate,sometimes with large green glands near base,upper surface smooth and bright green when fresh but very scabrous when old, lower surface paler with cystoliths on the nerve when dry,. Flowers white, dioecious. Fruits bright scarlet, globose. Seeds embedded in dark green pulp, oblong, flattened, slightly narrowed at base.
Trichosanthes cucumerina L.
Ban potol –oriya , chachindra- hindi.
Climber. Stem often angled. Leaves long-petioled, orbicular-reniform or broadly ovate.deeply cordate,denticulate from the mucronate nerve endings,smooth, primary nerves pubscent or somewhat scabrous beneath,. Flowers white, monoecious, fruits spindle-shaped rostate.at first green with white stripes, ultimately red.
Solina amplexicaulis Lam.
Ban kundri – oriya ,
Prostrate or climbing herb;stem angled,smooth;root tuberous. Leaves polymorphic , ovate or lobed.fruits ellipsoid, scarlet with red pulp,apically beaked , smooth;. Seeds ellipsois,slightly compressed,white,smooth,sometimes with a corrugated margin.
Mukia maderaspatana L.
Bilari –hindi.
Scarbrous climbing herb.leaves ovate or deltoid, angular or lobed.flowers yellow. Fruits scarlet,globose. Seeds grey,ovoid-oblong.
Diplocyclos palmatus L.
Shivalingi – oriya, mala-bengoli.
Climbing herb;stem nearly smooth. Leaves orbicular ovate,deeply lobed or partite.flowers small, yellowish.fruit globose,smooth,green or when quite ripe red, with white stripes. Seeds few, embedded in blue green pulp,grey,pyriform,surrounded by a thick ring on either side of which project the swollen, corrugated faces of the seed.
Cucumis melo L.
Bing dimbo – oriya.
Procumbent annual;stem sometimes rather thickened towards the base;whole plant scarbid and hispid.leaves orbicular or ovate with shallow rounded or sub-angular lobes or subentire,denticulate with mucronate nerveendings.flowers yellow. Fruits spherical or ovoid obtuse at both ends.usually striped green or white green or pale green, ultimately turning yellow.
Wild form is referable to var agretis
Cucumis sativus L.
Khira – hindi.
Hispidly hair climbers. Leaves angled or lobed.flowers yellow.fruits oblong, yellowish-green, glabrous.
The bitter fruit is referable to var.harwickii (Royle).
Coccinia grandis L.
Bano kundri- oriya, kundru- hindi.
Climbing herb;stem angular,glabrous or scabrous. Leaves ovate or orbicular, glabrous,delicately venose beneath,punctuate above.flowers white.fruits oblong, narrowed apically or at both ends,red when ripe. Seeds oblong,compressed.
Sanjeet KumarRIE(NCERT), Bhubaneswar.
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