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Solena amplexicaulis, the creeping cucumber, is a perennial climbing vine from the gourd family with thick tuberous roots, grown for its edible young fruits and shoots. It needs warm, humid tropical conditions and a support to climb on.
Solena amplexicaulis, commonly known as the creeping cucumber, is a species of plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, native to tropical southern Asia. The fruits, leaves, roots and shoots have use as food and in traditional medicine.
Solena amplexicaulis is found in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam and China at altitudes of up to 2,600 m (8,500 ft). It grows in a range of habitats including tropical mixed forests, thickets, hilly areas, semi-cultivated areas and roadside verges.
In India, the fruits of Solena amplexicaulis are picked when not yet ripe for use in salads and in curries, and the shoots, leaves and tubers are also eaten in some parts of the country. In Chhattisgarh, the fruits and roots are consumed to assist in the digestion of bushmeat. Creeping cucumber can be gathered from the wild or can be cultivated as a field crop and given suitable supports over which to climb.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Solena amplexicaulis 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.
