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Trichosanthes dioica
Pointed gourd is a climbing tropical perennial vine from the Indian subcontinent, grown mainly for its small green edible fruits. It needs a trellis, a warm humid climate, and well-drained soil, and it dies back in winter.
Trichosanthes dioica, also known as pointed gourd, is a tropical perennial cucurbit plant with its origin in the Indian subcontinent. The plant propagated vegetatively and grows with training on a support system (e.g., trellis) as pencil-thick vines (creepers) with dark-green cordate (heart-shaped) simple leaves. It is a well-developed dioecious plant having distinct male and female flowers on staminate and pistillate plants, respectively. The fruits are green with white or no stripes' and have unpalatable seeds. Size can vary from small and round to thick and long &ndash. 5–15 centimetres (2–6 inches). It thrives well under a hot to moderately warm and humid climate. The plant remains dormant during the winter season and prefers fertile, well-drained sandy loam soil due to its susceptibility to water-logging.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Trichosanthes 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.
