Scientific name: Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Synonym: Lagenaria vulgaris Seringe
Bengali/Vernacular name: Lau, Pani lau (Bengali); Kodu (Noakhali).
Tribal name: Buushi (Marma); Omai (Bawm); Wongsu (Chak); Fong (Garo); Aaoi (Khumi); Um-ei (Lushai); Kui tetoi (Murang); Ushsak (Pangkhoa); Kadu-sthei, Boo-sthei (Rakhaing); Logula (Tanchangya).
English name: Boottle gourd, White pumpkin, Club gourd.
Description of the plant: A large, annual, climbing herb. Stem branched, sulcate-angulate, pubescent. Tendrils filiform, puberulous, bifid. Leaves ovate-cordate or reniform ovate, 10-35 × 10-35 cm, undivided or 3-5 lobed, palmately 5-7 nerved, margin irregularly dentate, base cordate, both surfaces puberulous, petioles 10-25 cm long, thick, subcylindric, often hollow, bi-glandular at the apex. Plants monoecious. Flowers large, white, solitary; petals 5, free, obovate, crumpled, hairy on both sides. Fruit large, usually bottle or dumbbell-shaped, some times ovate or oval, greatly very in size and shape, greenish-yellow.
Plant parts used: Leaf.
Medicinal uses: A fresh juice extracted from the leaves of the plant is taken thrice a day (10 ml amount each time) for seven days to treat chicken pox.
Juice extracted from leaves of the plant is taken immediate after being swooning to treat eclampsia.
Leaf juice is taken thrice a day for 15 days to treat jaundice.
Crushed leaves used for baldness, applied to the head for the treatment of headache.
Distribution: Cultivated throughout the country.
Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….
