A dainty, annual climber growing to 1.5 m (5ft), with slender stalks, rounded leaves that are serrated around the edges, and small yellow flowers followed by tiny, edible, greenish mottled to yellow fruits
A dainty, annual climber growing to 1.5 m (5ft), with slender stalks, rounded leaves that are serrated around the edges, and small yellow flowers followed by tiny, edible, greenish mottled to yellow fruits with whitish flesh. They can be eaten raw when ripe or cooked as a vegetable when unripe but fruits from some plants are bitter. In India, dried and powdered fruits are a popular meat tenderizer. The seeds produce edible oil.
Medicinal Uses The fruits can be used as a cooling light cleanser or moisturizer for the skin. They are also used as a first-aid treatment for burns and abrasions. The flowers are expectorant and emetic. The fruit is stomachic. The seed is antitussive, digestive, febrifuge and vermifuge. When used as a vermifuge, the whole seed complete with the seed coat is ground into a fine flour, then made into an emulsion with water and eaten. It is then necessary to take a purge in order to expel the tapeworms or other parasites from the body. The root is diuretic and emetic. A paste of the plant is applied as a poultice around the naval when there is difficulty in urinating.
A dainty, annual climber growing to 1.5 m (5ft), with slender stalks, rounded leaves that are serrated around the edges, and small yellow flowers followed by tiny, edible, greenish mottled to yellow fruits