Distribution and habitat: Found throughout India, in plains and in lower hills.

Botany: A slender annual monoecious climber with furrowed stem.

• Stems   :  3.6-4.5 cm long, slightly hairy possess tendrils.
• Leaves : Simple, broader than long, leaf 5-12.5 cm long, orbicular reniform, distantly denticulate, base deeply cordate.
• Flowers : Monoecious, males in axillary racemes, bearing 8-15 flowers near the apex, white coloured. Females solitary axillary.
• Fruits  : 4-6 cm long, ovoid, fusiform, indehiscent berries, tapering at both ends, green colour with white stripes when raw, scarlet red when ripe.
• Seeds : Semiellipsoid  when  ripe, compressed, surrounded with red pulp.

Chemical constituent:  Fruit contains tetra cyclic triterpenes-cucurbitacins, cucurbitacin B, β-trichosanthin

Properties: The plant is bitter, acrid, thermogenic, emollient, laxative, depurative, alexeteric, anthelmintic, appetiser, carminative, digestive, cholagogue, stomachic, anodyne, expectorant, ardiotonic, suppurative, vulnery, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and tonic.

Uses: It is useful in leprosy, leucoderma, anorexia, dyspepsia, flatulence, colic, dipsia, hyper acidity, hepatopathy, jaundice, helminthiasis, haemorrohoids, cephalagia, cough, asthma, intermittent fevers etc.

Propagation: Seeds. Spacing adopted for field planting is 90 cm X 60 cm.