Madras pea pumpkin (Cucumis maderaspatanus)

Madras pea pumpkin (Cucumis maderaspatanus) is a species of plant in the Cucurbitaceae, shrub, climbing, cylindrical stem, up to 4 meters long, branched, green with dark green linear stripes and white hairs.

C. maderaspatanus has leaves of variable shape, narrow oblong to broad or triangular or heart-shaped, usually triangular lobes, margins tortuous, rough surface and white hairs.

The flowers are trumpet-shaped and yellow.

The fruit grows in clusters in the axillary part, round in shape, 6-15 mm in diameter, short stalk, green at first with dark green linear stripes and white hairs, when ripe it is bright red, smooth and glabrous.

Each fruit contains 10-20 seeds, oval in shape and brown in color.

The plant is used to treat bleeding in the nose, relieve vertigo, burns, scabies and headaches. Plants have hypotensive, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, immunodulatory, antimicrobial and antiulcer properties.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Tribe: Benincaseae
Genus: Cucumis
Species: Cucumis maderaspatanus

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