Dear Dr. Gurcharan, Perhaps you missed my post of 14 Oct, so am copying it below: Dear All, The plant called is *Cyclanthera pedata * Please check: *http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caihua.jpg http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Cyclanthera+pedata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caigua*. Lots of information on Wikipedia: especially: "In case of disease or/and obesity it can be eaten as juice extract during a fast. It is also effective as dehydrated powder. It has various traditional medicinal usages, mainly to:control cholesterol, reduce obesity, control high blood pressure, regulates the metabolism of lipids and sugar in the blood stream and decreasing cholesterol." *Cyclanthera pedata* (L.) Schrad.: SYNONYM(S) : *Cyclanthera pedata* (L.) Schrad. var. *edulis* (Naudin) Cogn., *Momordica pedata* L.
ENGLISH : Korila, Korilla, Slipper gourd, Wild cucumber, Caigua (Haiti) (pronounced kai-wa).On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:40 AM, Regards, Usha I referred to *Sechium *as another prolifically growing climber we call 'Iskus' and had written that we know her plant as 'Chuchchey Karela' about which I would find out more, which accordingly I did as above. Hope that helps. Kind regards, Usha On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 9:28 PM, Gurcharan Singh <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Usha ji > It is good that you have thrown some light on the plant uploaded by Nabha > ji 0n September 7. Incidently your mail has given interesting turn to the > said plant, but I fear there is some confusion. Chayote (sechium edule) is > a cucurbit of tropical America, cultivated in many parts of the world. I > have seen it being sold in Darjeeling and Sikkim on my two or three visits > to the area. It must be cultivated in many parts of that area (sometimes > self sown) but it is surely not the plant uploaded by Nabha ji. Fortunately > I saw a lot of Sechium edule in Markets of California and was able to > photograph it growing in a house. Its leaves are like those of Cucurbita > with angled or shallowly lobed leaves, and fruits don't have curved pointed > tip found in Nabha ji's plant, which also has much deeply divided leaves > with divisions almost to the base. I am uploading the photographs of Sechium > ediule separately. I request you and other colleagues to kindly compare the > photographs of Sechium edule uploaded by me and the one uploaded by Megha ji > as sweet karela. May be after comparing the two, you can decide better on > the said plant. > > Dr. Gurcharan Singh > Associate Professor > SGTB Khalsa College > University of Delhi, Delhi > India > http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45 <http://people.du.ac.in/%7Esinghg45> > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* usha lachungpa <[email protected]> > *To:* Ulhas <[email protected]> ; [email protected] > *Sent:* Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:40 AM > *Subject:* [indiantreepix:20841] Re: Fwd: [indiantreepix:18961] Re: sweet > karela > > Dear Ulhas and All, > The plant in question is a commonly grown cucurbit vegetable locally called > 'Chuchchey Karela'. I have lived here over 20 years and nobody calls it > sweet karela . Chuchchey in Nepali means 'bent' or 'curved'. The fruit is > hooked at the tip, its black seeds are somewhat like that of bitter gourd > and hence it is called 'Karela'. But it is not sweet at all. Its like many > people calling fresh water as sweet water compared to salt water. > > It grows prolifically around 1500 to about 2400m almost throughout Sikkim > around this time. We commonly consume the fruits and mom-in-law taught me > to pluck tender leaves as vegetable. I tasted the raw fruits and found them > very edible, like young cucumbers and began plucking them at that stage so > we could eat them whole. But most are sold in the market as mature > vegetable and people have to split them open, de-seed them and cook along > with potatoes usually. > > They are as cheap as another prolific cucurbit that literally infests every > shrub and tree around this time of year locally called 'Iskus' *Sechium > edule* or Chow-chow to Bangaloreans. Check out * > http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sechium_edule *and * > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chayote > > *I tried unsuccessfully to find pictures of Gomphogyne cissiformis as > suggested by Dr. Gurcharan. It is also *not Momordica cochinchinensis*, > another local vegetable. > > Will check up and get back. > Kind regards, > Usha > * > * On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 4:18 PM, Ulhas <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear Usha >> >> Can you throw some light on this plant / vegetable from Sikkim? >> >> Best wishes >> >> Ulhas >> >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: "J.M. Garg" <[email protected]> >> Date: Oct 13, 12:54 pm >> Subject: Fwd: [indiantreepix:18961] Re: sweet karela >> To: indiantreepix >> >> >> Forwarding again for Id assistance pl. >> >> Earlier relevant feedback: >> *"Nabha ji >> you seem to have found a and photographed one of the least known >> plants. >> Meetha karela, Bhaat karela, Kheksa, Padora, Kakaura, Kaksa all names >> of >> spinegourd, A plant with many virtues, and botanically Momordica >> dioicaRoxb. >> * >> * Your plant is is not clearly this species. There is no >> information on >> the net, not even common names of what I think is your plant, perhaps >> Gomphogyne >> cissiformis Griff, growing in Kumaon, Sikkim and Lachoong. >> You have to confirm the size of fruit (length), size of seed, and >> whether latter has small tubercles (teeth like structures) at ends.* >> * The plant is very poory known, and my identification is purely on >> the >> basis of scanty information. It needs critical scrutiny by other >> members. >> Dr. Gurcharan Singh" >> * >> *"Gurcharan ji, >> thanks for your feed back. I havn't eaten the fruits yet so i can take >> more >> fotos and send them here. >> Well. sweet karela was also not known to me, till ivisited sikkim. It >> was >> sold in one shop where we stopped for Lunch and if i remember ok, the >> hotel >> and the sho were on the main road to Gangtok along the Teesta river. >> Perhaps >> there are people from Sikkim or Bengal in the group who may have some >> more >> ideas. >> The fruits are longish, the tip is bent a bit, and the fruits have a >> few (3 >> or 4) thorn like things, but very thin like hair perhaps 1 to 1,5 cm >> long >> Here one can read about sweet karela **http://www.livemint.com/ >> 2008/10/31232217/The-secrets-of-Sikkim.htmlbut*<http://www.livemint.com/%0A2008/10/31232217/The-secrets-of-Sikkim.htmlbut*> >> <http:// >> www.livemint.com/2008/10/31232217/The-secrets-of-Sikkim.htmlbut> >> * the picture is not of s.k. >> in **www.avani-kumaon.org/annual_reports/anrep04-05 >> (E).docthere*<http://www.avani-kumaon.org/annual_reports/anrep04-05 >> (E).docthere> >> * a ref to s.k. >> Perhaps there are people from Sikkim or Bengal in the group who may >> have >> some more ideas. >> Regards >> Nalini"* >> ** >> *"Nabha ji >> Your first link did not open. The second link leads to page that lists >> Sweet >> karela, but as I told you earlier, most people know sweet karela as >> Momordica >> dioica. Your plant is much different from this.* >> *Dr. Gurcharan Singh"* >> >> >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: nabha meghani <[email protected]> >> Date: 2009/9/20 >> Subject: [indiantreepix:18961] Re: sweet karela >> To: Devendra Bhardwaj <[email protected]>, indiantreepix < >> >> [email protected]> >> Cc: [email protected] >> >> Hallo, >> here are some more pictures of sweet karela. >> After waiting for a while for some replies, I prepared the karelas >> yesterday. They were not 'sweet', but they were also not bitter. >> I am still alive. But I think, I wud eat only a few of them at a time. >> I don't know, if my plants survive the winter. Will see. >> >> Reghards >> Nalini >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Devendra Bhardwaj" <[email protected]> >> To: "indiantreepix" <[email protected]> >> Cc: "nabha meghani" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> >> Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 2:27 AM >> Subject: Fw: [indiantreepix:17814] sweet karela >> >> Forwarding again for Id confirmation pl. >> Earlier relevant feedback: >> >> Nabha ji >> you seem to have found a and photographed one of the least known >> plants. >> Meetha karela, Bhaat karela, Kheksa, Padora, Kakaura, Kaksa all names >> of >> spinegourd, A plant with many virtues, and botanically Momordica >> dioica >> Roxb. >> >> Your plant is is not clearly this species. There is no >> information on >> the net, not even common names of what I think is your plant, perhaps >> Gomphogyne cissiformis Griff, growing in Kumaon, Sikkim and Lachoong. >> You have to confirm the size of fruit (length), size of seed, and >> whether latter has small tubercles (teeth like structures) at ends. >> >> The plant is very poory known, and my identification is purely on >> the >> basis of scanty information. It needs critical scrutiny by other >> members. >> >> Dr. Gurcharan Singh >> Associate Professor >> SGTB Khalsa College >> University of Delhi, Delhi >> India >> >> Gurcharan ji, >> thanks for your feed back. I havn't eaten the fruits yet so i can take >> more >> fotos and send them here. >> Well. sweet karela was also not known to me, till ivisited sikkim. It >> was >> sold in one shop where we stopped for Lunch and if i remember ok, the >> hotel >> and the sho were on the main road to Gangtok along the Teesta river. >> Perhaps >> there are people from Sikkim or Bengal in the group who may have some >> more >> ideas. >> The fruits are longish, the tip is bent a bit, and the fruits have a >> few (3 >> or 4) thorn like things, but very thin like hair perhaps 1 to 1,5 cm >> long >> Here one can read about sweet karelahttp:// >> www.livemint.com/2008/10/31232217/The-secrets-of-Sikkim.htmlbut >> the >> picture is not of s.k. >> inwww.avani-kumaon.org/annual_reports/anrep04-05(E).docthere<http://inwww.avani-kumaon.org/annual_reports/anrep04-05%28E%29.docthere>a >> ref to >> s.k.. >> >> Perhaps there are people from Sikkim or Bengal in the group who may >> have >> some more ideas. >> Regards >> Nalini >> >> Nabha ji >> Your first link did not open. The second link leads to page that lists >> Sweet >> karela, but as I told you earlier, most people know sweet karela as >> Momordica dioica. Your plant is much different from this. >> >> Dr. Gurcharan Singh >> Associate Professor >> SGTB Khalsa College >> University of Delhi, Delhi >> India >> >> --- On Mon, 7/9/09, nabha meghani <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > From: nabha meghani <[email protected]> >> > Subject: [indiantreepix:17814] sweet karela >> > To: "indiantreepix" <[email protected]> >> > Date: Monday, 7 September, 2009, 2:23 AM >> >> > Hallo, >> > in Feb 2009 I visited >> > Sikkim. One Sabjiwala >> > gave me some seeds of sweet karela. I put them in a pot in >> > April. >> > In the beginning it did >> > not want to grow, the >> > summer was very dry. Now it is raining a lot and the >> > Karelas are getting >> > bigger everyday. >> > I shall be able to >> > harvest 7 Karelas >> > now. >> > I shall enjoy eating >> > karelasabji and >> > remembering my trip to Sikkim. >> > Until my visit to Sikkim I >> > did not know that >> > Karelas are also sweet. I knew only the bitter >> > ones. >> > Does this Plant have an >> > ID? >> >> > Regards >> > Nalini >> >> See the Web's breaking stories, chosen by people like you. >> Check >> out Yahoo! Buzz.http://in.buzz.yahoo.com/ >> >> -- >> With regards, >> J.M.Garg ([email protected])http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 >> 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' >> Image Resource of thousands of my images of Birds, Butterflies, Flora >> etc. >> (arranged alphabetically & place-wise):http://commons.wikimedia.org/ >> wiki/Category:J.M.Garg<http://commons.wikimedia.org/%0Awiki/Category:J.M.Garg> >> For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- >> Indiantreepix:http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en >> >> >> >> Sweet-Karela-seeds-4602-k.JPG >> 59KViewDownload >> >> Sweet-Karela-4594-k.JPG >> 68KViewDownload >> >> Sweet-Karela-4598-k.JPG >> 93KViewDownload- Hide quoted text - >> >> - Show quoted text - > > > > > -- > Usha Ganguli-Lachungpa > Sr. Research Officer (WL) > Dept. of Forest, Env. & WL Mgmt. > Government of Sikkim > Deorali, Gangtok 737102 > Tel/Fax:91-3592-280402; > Cell:094340-25273 > [email protected] > [email protected] > > > > -- Usha Ganguli-Lachungpa Sr. Research Officer (WL) Dept. of Forest, Env. & WL Mgmt. Government of Sikkim Deorali, Gangtok 737102 Tel/Fax:91-3592-280402; Cell:094340-25273 [email protected] [email protected] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
