• Family : CUCURBITACEAE
  (Gourd Or Melon Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : KHARBOOZA FAMILY (खरबूजा फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : CUCURBITACEAE
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Trichosanthes cucumerina L.
• Common name : Wild Snake Gourd, Malabar Patola
• Vernacular name : Parval, Jangli Chachinda (Hindi); Padavala kai, Kahi padavala (Kannada); Cheti potla (Telugu); Ban potol (Oria); Janglichachinda, Kattupadavalam, Kayappanpadavalam, Patolam, Padavalam (Malayalam); Peppadal (Tamil)
• Habit : Climber
• Habitat : Margins of semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains
• Comments / notes : Cultivated for its edible fruits. The cultivated form of this species T. Cucumarina var. anguina
• Flower, Fruit : June-May
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : East Godavari district, Kurnool district, Srikakulam district, West Godavari district, Krishna district
  • Karnataka : Chikkamagaluru district, Hassan district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Shivamogga district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
• World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka, Tropical Himalayas, Malaysia, Polynesia, Australia, Bangladesh, Myanmar
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2007 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 3; J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 2; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Trichosanthes cucumerina. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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