An annual creeper. Stems very long, slender, furrowed, sub-glabrous; tendrils 2-3-fid; leaves 5-8 cm long, of various shapes, lobed, base deeply cordate; flowers monoecious: male flowers in axillary racemes, peduncles 5-15 cm long, bearing 8-15 flowers near the apex; female flowers axillary, solitary; fruits sometimes up to 4 m in length and up to 7.5 cm. thick, often twisted, green when young, or pale green, white, sometimes striped, changing to bright orange when ripe.

Cardian tonic and anti-febrile, emetic, useful in restoring the disordered processes of nutrition, creates a cooling effect in the body, root is purgative and tonic. Anthelmintic, purgative and emetic (fruit)

Plants for a Future

Chondrillasterol (plant), ascorbic acid, beta carotene, ceryl alcohol, hentriacontane, ß-sitosterol, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin (fruit); linoleic acid, oxalic acid (seed)

To improve appetite and cure biliousness (fruit); for expulsion of worms and for the treatment of diarrhoea and syphilis (roots and seeds)