Coccinia grandis
Details Top
| Internal ID | UUID644012484a94b919063878 |
| Scientific name | Coccinia grandis |
| Authority | (L.) Voigt |
| First published in | Hort. Suburb. Calcutt. : 59 (1845) |
General Uses Top
Suggest a correction!Common products:
Young shoots, leaves, and immature fruits are harvested as a leafy vegetable and vegetable fruit. The fruits are sold fresh, sliced, or processed into pickles, chutneys, and dried chips. Dried fruit chips are produced by slicing and sun‑drying, yielding a crisp product with an extended shelf life.
Food and beverages (non‑medicinal):
The crisp, slightly sweet‑tart fruit is a staple in South‑Asian and Southeast‑Asian cuisines. It is stir‑fried with spices, added to lentil soups, and used in mixed vegetable curries such as “tindora sabzi”. The fruit is also processed into sweet or sour pickles and incorporated into chutneys. Young leaves are boiled, sautéed, or added to stews, providing a mild‑flavored leafy component similar to spinach.
Industrial and craft applications:
Coccinia grandis serves as a model system for sex‑determination research within the Cucurbitaceae. Its genome (≈ 500 Mb) was sequenced and released in 2020, and the data are publicly available in GenBank and Phytozome, supporting comparative genomics and marker‑assisted breeding. The mucilaginous pulp contains water‑soluble polysaccharides that exhibit thickening and stabilizing properties; laboratory tests have evaluated its use as a natural thickener in processed sauces and soups. The fast‑growing vine produces substantial biomass, which has been explored as a feedstock for bio‑energy research, although commercial scaling remains limited.
Properties relevant to use:
Fruit pulp is high in moisture (~90 %) and contains a mucilaginous polysaccharide matrix that confers viscosity. The fruit is mildly acidic, characteristic of many cucurbit fruits, and contains soluble sugars that contribute to flavor and facilitate pickling. Leaves have a tender texture and low fiber content, making them suitable for quick cooking. The vine’s vigorous growth yields high biomass per unit area, supporting rapid turnover in agricultural systems.
Sustainability and sourcing:
The species is cultivated on smallholder farms in tropical and subtropical regions (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Africa) and can be harvested from the wild. It requires minimal irrigation and fertilizer inputs. In regions where it has become invasive (e.g., parts of Australia and the Pacific islands), management programs promote its harvest as a value‑added crop to reduce spread while providing additional income. The short growth cycle of 3–4 months enables frequent cropping and relatively low environmental impact per unit of edible product.
Synonyms Top
| Scientific name | Authority | First published in |
|---|---|---|
| Momordica bicolor | Blume | Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. : 928 (1826) |
| Momordica covel | Dennst. | Schlüssel Hortus Malab. : 34 (1818) |
| Momordica monadelpha | Roxb. | Fl. Ind. ed. 1832 , 3: 708 (1832) |
| Bryonia acerifolia | D.Dietr. | Syn. Pl. 5: 367 (1852) |
| Bryonia alceifolia | Willd. | Neue Schriften Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin 4: 223 (1803) |
| Bryonia barbata | Buch.-Ham. ex Cogn. | Monogr. Phan. 3: 580 (1881) |
| Bryonia grandis | L. | Mant. Pl. 1: 126 (1767) |
| Bryonia moimoi | Ser. | Prodr. 3: 305 (1828) |
| Bryonia sinuosa | Wall. | Numer. List [Wallich] n. 6716. 1832 |
| Cephalandra grandis | Kurz | J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 46: 103 (1877) |
| Cephalandra indica | Naudin | Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. sér. 5, 5: 16. 1866 |
| Cephalandra moghadd | (Asch.) Broun & R.E.Massey | Fl. Sudan : 105 (1929) |
| Cephalandra schimperi | Naudin | Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. , sér. 5, 5: 16 (1866) |
| Coccinia grandis var. wightiana | (M.Roem.) Greb. | Verz. Landwirtsch. Gärtn. Kulturpfl. , ed. 2, 2: 929 (1986) |
| Coccinia helenae | Buscal. & Muschl. | Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 49: 498 (1913) |
| Coccinia indica | Wight & Arn. | Prodr. Fl. Ind. Orient. : 347 (1834) |
| Coccinia loureiroana | M.Roem. | Fam. Nat. Syn. Monogr. 2: 93 (1846) |
| Coccinia moghadd | Asch. | Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. : 267 (1867) |
| Coccinia moimoi | M.Roem. | Fam. Nat. Syn. Monogr. 2: 93 (1846) |
| Coccinia palmatisecta | Kotschy | Sitzungsber. Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss., Math.-Naturwiss. Cl., Abt. 1 , 51: 360 (1865) |
| Coccinia schimperi | Naudin | Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. , sér. 4, 8: 366 (1857) |
| Coccinia wightiana | M.Roem. | Fam. Nat. Syn. Monogr. 2: 93. 1846 [Dec 1846] |
| Cucumis pavel | Kostel. | Allg. Med.-Pharm. Fl. 2: 738 (1833) |
| Cucurbita dioica | Roxb. ex Wight & Arn. | Prodr. Fl. Ind. Orient. : 347 (1834) |
| Cucurbita schimperiana | Hochst. ex Cogn. | Monogr. Phan. 3: 532 (1881) |
| Luffa moghadd | (Forssk.) Peterm. | Pflanzenreich : 437 (1838-1845) |
Common names Top
Add a new one! Suggest a correction!| Language | Common/alternative name |
|---|---|
| English | scarlet gourd |
| English | ivy gourd |
| English | little gourd |
| English | gentleman's toes |
| English | baby watermelon |
| Bengali | কুচিলা |
| Bengali | তেলাকুচা |
| Esperanto | tindolo |
| Persian | پیچک کدو |
| gom | तेंडली |
| Gujarati | ટિંડોળી |
| Hindi | कुंदुरी |
| hif | kundru |
| Indonesian | kemarungan |
| Japanese | ヤサイカラスウリ |
| Kannada | ತೊಂಡೆ |
| Korean | 아이비고드 |
| mad | pas-pasan |
| mad | tèmon tèkos |
| mai | तिलकोर |
| Macedonian | Голема кокцинија |
| Malayalam | കോവൽ |
| Marathi | तोंडले |
| Malay | timun padang |
| Burmese | ကင်းပုံပင် |
| Nepali | गोल काँक्री |
| Dutch | tindola |
| Romanian | tărtăcuță |
| sa | बिम्बफलम् |
| sat | ᱠᱩᱱᱫᱽᱨᱤ |
| sd | ڪدو جو گل |
| Sinhala | කෝවක්කා |
| syl | ꠇꠣꠃꠀꠟꠥꠟꠤ |
| syl | ꠇꠣꠃꠀꠟꠥꠟꠤ ꠉꠣꠍ |
| Tamil | கோவை |
| Tamil | கொவ்வை |
| tcy | ಮನೊಳಿ |
| Telugu | దొండ కాయ |
| Thai | ตำลึง |
| Tonga | vaine fakafulutāmakiaʻi |
| Vietnamese | dưa dại |
| Chinese | 红瓜 |
| Chinese | 紅瓜 |
Germination/Propagation Top
Suggest a correction or add new data!
No germination or propagation data was added yet.
Distribution (via POWO/KEW) Top
Legend for the distribution data:
- Doubtful data
- Extinct
- Introduced
- Native
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Africa click to expand
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East Tropical Africa
- Kenya
- Tanzania
- Uganda
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Northeast Tropical Africa
- Chad
- Djibouti
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Somalia
- Sudan
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Northern Africa
- Egypt
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South Tropical Africa
- Mozambique
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West Tropical Africa
- Benin
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea-Bissau
- Ivory Coast
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
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West-central Tropical Africa
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Zaïre
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Western Indian Ocean
- Mauritius
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East Tropical Africa
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Asia-temperate click to expand
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Arabian Peninsula
- Saudi Arabia
- Yemen
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China
- China South-central
- China Southeast
- Hainan
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Eastern Asia
- Taiwan
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Arabian Peninsula
-
Asia-tropical click to expand
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Indian Subcontinent
- Assam
- Bangladesh
- India
- Laccadive Islands
- Nepal
- Pakistan
- Sri Lanka
- West Himalaya
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Indo-China
- Andaman Islands
- Cambodia
- Laos
- Myanmar
- Nicobar Nicobar
- South China Sea
- Thailand
- Vietnam
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Malesia
- Borneo
- Jawa
- Lesser Sunda Islands
- Malaya
- Maluku
- Philippines
- Sulawesi
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Indian Subcontinent
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Australasia click to expand
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Australia
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- Western Australia
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Australia
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Northern America click to expand
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South-central U.S.A.
- Texas
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Southeastern U.S.A.
- Florida
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South-central U.S.A.
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Pacific click to expand
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North-central Pacific
- Hawaii
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Northwestern Pacific
- Caroline Islands
- Marianas
- Wake Island
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Southwestern Pacific
- Fiji
- Tonga
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North-central Pacific
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Southern America click to expand
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Brazil
- Brazil Southeast
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Caribbean
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Leeward Islands
- Puerto Rico
- Trinidad-Tobago
- Windward Islands
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Central America
- Nicaragua
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Northern South America
- French Guiana
- Guyana
- Suriname
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Western South America
- Colombia
-
Brazil
Links to other databases Top
Suggest others/fix!| Database | ID/link to page |
|---|---|
| World Flora Online | wfo-0000612919 |
| UNII | S4R7X48WED |
| Florida Plant Atlas | 1472 |
| USDA Plants | COGR9 |
| Tropicos | 9200002 |
| INPN | 706064 |
| KEW | urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:291972-1 |
| The Plant List | kew-2729083 |
| Open Tree Of Life | 736698 |
| NCBI Taxonomy | 387127 |
| Nature Serve | 2.155850 |
| IPNI | 291972-1 |
| iNaturalist | 160766 |
| GBIF | 2874564 |
| Freebase | /m/05yw0t |
| EPPO | COCGR |
| EOL | 584421 |
| USDA GRIN | 10974 |
| Wikipedia | Coccinia_grandis |
| CMAUP | NPO4860 |
Genomes (via NCBI) Top
No reference genome is available on NCBI yet. We are constantly monitoring for new data.
Scientific Literature Top
Below are displayed the latest 15 articles published in PMC (PubMed Central®) and other sources (DOI number only)!
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If you wish to see all the related articles click here.
Phytochemical Profile Top
Add a new one!
Below are displayed the proven (via scientific papers) natural compounds!
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| Name | PubChem ID | Canonical SMILES | MW | Found in | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| > Benzenoids / Benzene and substituted derivatives / Benzoic acids and derivatives / Hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives / Gallic acid and derivatives / Galloyl esters | |||||
| Methyl Gallate | 7428 | Click to see | 184.15 | unknown | via CMAUP database |
| > Lipids and lipid-like molecules / Prenol lipids / Terpene lactones / Diterpene lactones | |||||
| 5-hydroxy-7-[(2E,6E,10E)-3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexadeca-2,6,10,14-tetraenyl]-3H-benzofuran-2-one | 16728597 | Click to see CC(=CCCC(=CCCC(=CCCC(=CCC1=CC(=CC2=C1OC(=O)C2)O)C)C)C)C | 422.60 | unknown | via CMAUP database |
| Rhuscholide A | 16655065 | Click to see | 462.70 | unknown | via CMAUP database |
| > Lipids and lipid-like molecules / Prenol lipids / Triterpenoids | |||||
| (6beta)-6-Hydroxy-3-oxoolean-12-en-28-oic acid | 44593478 | Click to see | 470.70 | unknown | via CMAUP database |
| Betulin | 72326 | Click to see CC(=C)C1CCC2(C1C3CCC4C5(CCC(C(C5CCC4(C3(CC2)C)C)(C)C)O)C)CO | 442.70 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(97)00433-0 |
| Betulonic acid | 122844 | Click to see CC(=C)C1CCC2(C1C3CCC4C5(CCC(=O)C(C5CCC4(C3(CC2)C)C)(C)C)C)C(=O)O | 454.70 | unknown | via CMAUP database |
| Hennadiol | 489919 | Click to see | 442.70 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(97)00433-0 |
| Moronic Acid | 489941 | Click to see | 454.70 | unknown | via CMAUP database |
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / O-methylated flavonoids / 7-O-methylated flavonoids | |||||
| Demethoxykanugin | 10381709 | Click to see COC1=CC2=C(C=C1)C(=O)C(=C(O2)C3=CC4=C(C=C3)OCO4)OC | 326.30 | unknown | via CMAUP database |
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Linear 1,3-diarylpropanoids / Chalcones and dihydrochalcones / Retro-dihydrochalcones | |||||
| Ovalitenone | 627910 | Click to see | 338.30 | unknown | via CMAUP database |
Collections Top
| In private collections | 0 |
| In public collections | 0 |