Momordica dioica

Momordica dioica, commonly known as spiny gourd or spine gourd and also known as bristly balsam pear, prickly carolaho, teasle gourd, kantola, is a species of flowering plant in the Cucurbitaceae/gourd family. It is used as a vegetable in all regions of India and some parts in South Asia. It has commercial importance and is exported and used locally. The fruits are cooked with spices, or fried and sometimes eaten with meat or fish.

Momordica dioica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Momordica
Species:
M. dioica
Binomial name
Momordica dioica

In Sanskrit it is called as karkotaki(कर्कोटकी)) karkoti(कर्कोटी). In Hindi it is called Kikoda(किकोड़ा) or Paroda(परोड़ा). In Tamil it is called மெழுகுபாகல் mezhuku-pakal, பழுபாகல் pazhu-pakal. In Oriya it is called Kankada(କାଙ୍କଡ଼). In Assamese it is called bhat-kerela (ভাত কেৰেলা), in Manipuri it is called "Karot" and in Bengali kakrol or ghi korola. In Telugu it is called boda kakara and on the east coast of Andhra it is called ā-kākara-kāya or angā-kara-kāya. In Gujarati it is called Kantola and is cooked the same way bitter gourd is cooked. In Sri Lanka,it is known as 'Thumba' or 'Thumba Karavila'('තුඹ කරවිල ') in Sinhalese.[1] In Marathi it is called 'Kantole' and in Mizo as maitamtawk. In Kannada it is called mada haagala kaayi (ಮಡ ಹಾಗಲಕಾಯಿ or ಸಿಹಿ ಹಾಗಲಕಾಯಿ). In Chhattisgarhi it is called 'Kheksi'. In Myanmar, it is called 'ဟင်းခပေါင်း'. In Konkani, it is called Phagil/Phagala. In Nepali (or Nepalese), it is called chattel.

Momordica dioica as the average nutritional value per 100 g edible fruit was found to contain 84.1% moisture, 7.7 g carbohydrate, 3.1 g protein, 3.1 g fat, 3.0 g fiber and 1.1 g minerals. It also contained small quantities of essential vitamins like ascorbic acid, carotene, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin. It also content protein in the leaves and dry weight of aerial plant parts remained higher in male as compared to female defruited, and monoecious plants. From Momordica dioica fruit isolated 6-methyl tritriacont-50on-28-of and 8- methyl hentracont-3-ene along with the known sterol pleuchiol. Momodicaursenol, an unknown pentacylic triterpene isolated from the seeds, had been identified as urs-12, 18(19)-dien-3 beta-ol on. Phytochemical investigations have revealed the presence of traces of alkaloids and ascorbic acid in fruits. Lectins, b-sitosterol, saponins, glycosides, triterpenes of ursolic acid, hederagenin, oleanolic acid, aspiranosterol, stearic acid, gypsogenin, two novel aliphatic constituents. From the dry root of Momordica dioica isolated three triterpenes and two steroidal compounds. These were alphaspinasterol octadecanonate(I), alphaspinasterol-3-O-beta-Dglucopyranoside(II), 3-O-beta-D-glucuronopyranosyl gypsogenin(III), 3-Obeta-D-glucopyranosyl gypsogenin(IV) and 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl hederagenin(V). Constituent III was a new compound.[2]

Various parts of Momordica dioica are used as traditional herbal remedies for diabetes mellitus (DM) in India.[3]

It is propagated by underground tubers. It has small leaves, small yellow flowers, it has small, dark green, round or oval fruits.[4] It is dioecious,[4] which means that it has distinct male and female individual organisms, hence its name.

flower of Momordica dioica

References
  1. http://www.boblme.org/documentRepository/BOBLME-2011-Socioec-03.pdf
  2. "http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in" (PDF). http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in. External link in |website=, |title= (help)
  3. Singh, Rambir; Sharma, Poonam (2014). "Effect of Momordica dioica fruit extract on antioxidant status in liver, kidney, pancreas, and serum of diabetic rats". Pharmacognosy Research. 6 (1): 73. doi:10.4103/0974-8490.122922. ISSN 0974-8490. PMC 3897014. PMID 24497747.
  4. T. R. Gopalakrishnan Vegetable Crops, p. 136, at Google Books
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