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Trichosanthes pilosa
Trichosanthes pilosa, known as Japanese snake gourd, is a tropical or semitropical climbing vine in the gourd family that produces small round to egg-shaped edible fruit. It needs warmth, humidity and a sturdy support to climb.
Trichosanthes pilosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae. It is a tropical or semitropical vine bearing an edible fruit. It is native to Japan, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Xizang (Tibet), Zhejiang) and other parts of southeast Asia as well as in Australia. It is known in English as Japanese snake gourd.
The Japanese snake gourd (T. pilosa), is very similar in its vegetative characters to the more widespread "snake gourd", Trichosanthes cucumerina, the flower and leaves of the two species are very similar but the fruit of T. pilosa are round to egg-shaped, about 7 cm long and not resembling a snake.
Snakegourd · Pointed gourd · Chinese Cucumber · Snake Gourds
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Trichosanthes pilosa 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.
