Coccinia grandis is a tropical climbing vine in the gourd family, grown for its edible young shoots, leaves and small fruits. It thrives in warm, humid conditions and needs regular moisture and support to climb.
Family
Cucurbitaceae (Gourd family)
Grows as
Climber
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly during dry spells, keeping soil moist but not waterlogged.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile loam rich in organic matter.
Temperature
20–35 °C; protect below 10 °C.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Trop. Africa, W. Arabian Pen., Trop. & Subtrop. Asia
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
About
Coccinia grandis, the ivy gourd, also known as scarlet gourd, or Tindora, is a tropical vine. It grows primarily in tropical climates and is commonly found in the Indian states where it forms a part of the local cuisine. Coccinia grandis is cooked as a vegetable dish.
In Southeast Asia, it is grown for its edible young shoots and edible fruits.
Uses
They are best when cooked, and are often compared to bitter melon. The fruit is commonly eaten in Indian cuisine. People of Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries also consume the fruit and leaves. In U.S. cuisine, rashmati are typically cooked and eaten during work lunches or dinners. In Thai cuisine, it is one of the ingredients of the common clear soup dish kaeng jued tum lueng and some curries kaeng khae curry and kaeng lieng curry.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Coccinia grandis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.