2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Luffa Egyptian (lat. Luffa aegyptiaca), or Luffa cylindrical - an annual liana from the genus Luffa (Latin Luffa), belonging to the Pumpkin family (Latin Cucurbitaceae). The young fruits of the plant are a popular vegetable in Southeast Asia, and fully ripe fruits make natural bath sponges.
What's in your name
The homeland of Luffa Egyptian is Vietnam, where the plant is grown for its fruits. Since the Europeans, who first saw this plant in Egypt, were engaged in plant taxonomy, the name "Luffa" was assigned to the genus of plants, which is consonant with the Egyptian name of this plant.
Hence the specific epithet "aegyptiaca" ("Egyptian") also came from.
The first description of this plant belongs to a German botanist named Johann Vesling (1598 - 1649), who is sometimes called an Italian botanist, because he worked in Venice. His main activities were "human anatomy" and "medical practice", and after that there was "botany", which did not prevent Wesling from leaving a significant mark on her. He owns an extensive study of the flora of Venice, in which special attention was paid to medicinal plants. Also in 1640, his work The Flora of Egypt was published. True, Wesling named the plant "Egyptian cucumber" (Egyptian cucumber). But he also introduced the name "Luffa" into botany.
Along with the botanical Latin name, the plant has many common names, for example, "Vietnamese Luffa", "Sponge Gourd", "Vegetable Sponge", "Smooth Luffa" (to distinguish it from "Ribbed Luffa"), as well as local names depending on habitat.
Description
The appearance of the Egyptian Luffa is very similar to the Pumpkin familiar to Russians, a relative of Luffa in the plant family. But the Pumpkin is considered a herbaceous plant and spreads along the ground, and Luffa, although it lives for one year, is a vine that has time to grow in length from three to six meters in one season.
Its strong pentahedral stems have rough ribs and are equipped with branched tendrils that tenaciously clasp the turned up support in order to rush closer to the sun.
The petiolate leaves are rather large, reaching a circumference of fifteen to twenty-five centimeters. The shape of the leaf plate is palmate, with five sharp-nosed lobes with serrated edges.
Unisexual bright yellow flowers are born in the axils of the leaves. Male flowers are grouped into inflorescences, and rather large female funnel-shaped flowers prefer to be single. The flowers are similar in appearance and size to the pumpkin flowers, as well as to the cucumber flowers, only of a larger size.
The fruits of the Egyptian Luffa resemble cucumbers in their shape and appearance, but they only exceed them in size. The length of the fruit ranges from thirty to fifty centimeters.
For the cultivation of Egyptian Luffa, lattice support supports are made. Plants require a lot of heat and a lot of water for successful development and abundant fruiting.
Usage
Large funnel-shaped flowers of bright yellow color are quite picturesque, and therefore Egyptian Luffa is often grown as an ornamental plant.
But the main purpose of growing Egyptian Luffa in a number of East Asian countries is the fruits of the plant, which are used for food at a young age, and when fully ripe, they are made of washcloths, which are widely used in everyday life.
Young vegetables are suitable for a variety of dishes, ranging from salad, then for cooking, frying, stewing and grilling, and ending with canning for future use.
Edible oil is extracted from the seeds, which is mixed with flour and fed to rabbits and catfish, or oil is used as fertilizer.
Ripe fruits are cleaned of seeds, rinsed and dried, obtaining unique natural washcloths that not only free the skin from dirt, but also massage it.
Washcloths are used not only for washing the human body. They perfectly clean kitchen pots and pans from grease and dirt. In addition, they are used as filters, as well as for the manufacture of rugs, hats and other small household gizmos.
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