''Momordica'' is a genus of about 60 species of annual or perennial climbers

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

or rarely small shrubs belonging to the family

Cucurbitaceae The Cucurbitaceae (), also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family (biology), family consisting of about 965 species in 101 genera.

, natives of tropical and subtropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Most species produce floral oils and are visited by specialist pollinators in the apid tribe

Ctenoplectrini The bee tribe Ctenoplectrini of the subfamily Apinae, with the two genera ''Ctenoplectra'' and ''Ctenoplectrina'', comprises 9 species in tropical Africa, 10 in Asia, and 1 in Australia. Description The Ctenoplectrini are characterised by sho ...

. A molecular phylogeny that includes all species is available (Schaefer and Renner, 2010).

Cultivation and uses

Some ''Momordica'' species are grown in cultivation for their fleshy

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

, which are oblong to cylindrical in shape, orange to red in colour, prickly or warted externally, and in some species burst when ripe, generally with elastic force, into irregular valves. ''Momordica'' can be cultivated in 5 litre vases or jardinière and is hardly susceptible to plagues. After seeding, ''Momordica'' develops leaves in about 11 days and flowers after 40 to 50 days. After fertilisation, the ''Momordica'' fruit will be developed in about 10 days. A species of wild

bitter melon ''Momordica charantia'' (commonly called bitter melon, cerassee, goya, bitter apple, bitter gourd, bitter squash, balsam-pear, karela, karavila and many more #Uses, names listed below) is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitac ...

is used in Ayurveda the ancient medicine system of India to treat diabetes. The green leaf juice in water is consumed daily. This wild melon is relatively small in size compared to cultivated bitter melon. ''Momordica charantia'' (

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

: ''kǔ guā'' 苦瓜) is native to Africa but has been used in Chinese folk medicine for centuries as a 'bitter, cold' herb, and has recently been brought into mainstream Chinese medicine as well as natural medical traditions around the world. Recent research has shown that the immature fruit might have some antibiotic, anticancer, and antiviral properties, particularly well suited for use in treatment of malaria, HIV, and diabetic conditions. The use of ''Momordica'' fruit is contraindicated in a number of conditions, especially pregnancy.

Accepted species

List sources

References

* {{Authority control Cucurbitaceae genera Medicinal plants Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus