Ash gourd (Benincasa pruriens hispida)
Description
White gourd is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable. The fruit is fuzzy when young. By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd, and providing a long shelf life. Stem is much branched. Leaf stalks are long and hairy. Leaves roundish, kidney-shaped, base deeply heart-shaped. Upper surface is rough, lower surface shortly bristly, blade 0-5 cm long and as much broad, 5-7-lobed, lobes ovate-triangular, margin sinuate or toothed. Tendrils are slender, rarely simple. Male flower 5-5 cm long, female -4 cm long. Calyx tube 0-5 mm long, densely hairy, lobes lanceolate, acute, 6- mm long. Petals spreading, blunt, but ending in a short point, 3-5 x -4 cm. Filaments of the stamens are inflated and hairy at the base, anthers trilobed. In north India, the fruit is used in making the popular sweet
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Cucurbitales
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Family: Cucurbitaceae
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Genus: Benincasa
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