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Momordica dioica
Also called Spine Gourd, Teasle Gourd, Bristly Balsam Pear
Momordica dioica is a climbing gourd grown from underground tubers, widely cultivated across India and South Asia as a vegetable. Key to growing it is a warm, seasonally dry climate, a sturdy support to climb, and separate male and female plants for fruit.
Momordica dioica, commonly known as spiny gourd or spine gourd or teasle gourd and also known as bristly balsam pear, is a species of flowering plant in the Cucurbitaceae/gourd family. It is propagated by underground tubers. It has small leaves, small yellow flowers, it has small, dark green, round or oval fruits. It is dioecious, which means that it has distinct male and female individual organisms, hence its name.
Momordica dioica is used as a vegetable in all regions of India and in South Asia. It has commercial importance and is exported and used locally. The fruits are cooked with spices, or fried and sometimes eaten with meat or fish.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Momordica dioica 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.
