Benincasa hispida - Kushmanda, Winter melon

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Winter melon

The winter melon, also called ash gourd, white gourd, winter gourd, tallow gourd Chinese preserving melon is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The fruit is fuzzy when young. The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten. 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. The melon may grow as large as 80 cm in length. Although the fruit is referred to as a "melon," the fully grown crop is not sweet. Native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, the winter melon is widely grown throughout Asia.

Uses

summer fevers, painful wounds, vaginal discharges, coughs, intestinal abscesses, excessive thirst, epilepsy, gonorrhoea, nervous diseases

Parts Used

Flowers, fruits, Leaves, Seeds.

Chemical Composition

Vitamins - A: 0mg; Thiamine (B1): 4mg; Riboflavin (B2): 0.11mg; Niacin: 0.4mg; B6: 0mg; C: 13mg;

Common names

Language	Common name
Kannada	Boodagumbala, Boodu gumbala
Hindi	Pethaa
Malayalam	Kumbalanga
Tamil	Neer poosanikai, Pooshnikai
Telugu
Marathi	NA
Gujarathi	NA
Punjabi	NA
Kashmiri	NA
Sanskrit	Kushmanda
English	Ash gourd, Ash pumpkin

Properties

Reference: Dravya - Substance, Rasa - Taste, Guna - Qualities, Veerya - Potency, Vipaka - Post-digesion effect, Karma - Pharmacological activity, Prabhava - Therepeutics.

Rasa

Madhura (Sweet)

Guna

Laghu (Light), Snigda (Unctuous)

Veerya

Sheeta (Cold)

Vipaka

Madhura (Sweet)

Karma

Kpha, Pitta

Habit

Annual Climber

Identification

Leaf

Kind	Shape	Feature
Simple	roundish	White gourd is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable

Flower

Type	Size	Color and composition	Stamen	More information
Unisexual	5-15 cm long	Yellow	5-20	densely hairy, lobes lanceolate, acute, 6-12 mm long. Petals spreading, blunt, but ending in a short point

Fruit

Type	Size	Mass	Appearance	Seeds	More information
fuzzy	7–10 mm (0.28–0.4 in.) long pome	the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating	its very large fruitWith hooked hairs	many	{{{6}}}

List of Ayurvedic medicine in which the herb is used

• Vishatinduka Taila as root juice extract

Mode of Propagation

Seeds, Cuttings.

How to plant/cultivate

Benincasa hispida is a plant of the tropics, and is also cultivated in the subtropics.

Commonly seen growing in areas

Tall grasslands, meadows, Borders of forests and fields.

Photo Gallery

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External Links

• Benincasa hispida on missouribotanicalgarden
• Benincasa hispida on planet ayurveda
• Ash Gourd, Wax Gourd, White Gourd, White Pumpkin
• Benincasa hispida encyclopedea britanicca