Jimutaka JIMUTAKA Luffa echinata VERNACULAR NAMES

ARABIC BOMBAY GUJARAT HINDI : SANSKRIT TELAGU TAMIL NEPALESE

: Looffa : Kukarvel : Kukarvel Bidali, ghagarabela,ghusarana,sonaiya. :Akhuvishaka,chaturangaka,dali,deodalika,deotada, : Davaradangi : Panibira Chyunke van toriya.

TAXONOMICAL IDENTIFICATION

KINGDOM plantae SUBKINGDOM Tracheobionata SUPERDIVISON spermatophyte DIVISION magnoliophyta CLASS mognoliopsida ORDER cucurbitales FAMILY cucurbitaceae GENUS luffa SPECIES Luffa echinata Roxb.

HABIT Grows wild in lower Himalayan regions and throughout the plains of India mainly in north-west India & East Bengal. MORPHOLOGY Jimutak is a annual creeper grows mainly in dry areas. Leaves : 3.8 - 6.3 cm long, usually broader than long .It is simple and cordate in shape The leaves are arranged alternately and is pentagonal. Petiole 2.5 5.0 cm. Flowers: Flowers are usally dioeaous. Male flower- Peduncles 7.5 15 cm long,Usually in pairs ,one flowered the other with a raceme of 5 12 flowers at the Apex ;pedicles 1-2cm long , bracteate near the base calyx hairy , 6 mm long ; Tube very short ; lobes ovate

lanceolate,acute. Petals which spreading, Obovate , twice as long as the calyx veined . Stamens 3 , two with 2 celled Anthers. Female Flower-Peduncles 1.3 5cm long.Both are white in colour. Fruits : Fruits are brodly ellipsoid 2.5-3.8 by 1.3 2 cm, not ribbed clothed with ciliate Bristles. They are mostly yellow colour. Seeds : seeds are numerous ,4-5 by 3 mm ,not winged , slightly verrucase. They are grayishblack,many, slightly scabrous. Even repeated washing of the hands after crushing it , doesnot removes the Bitterness.

PHYTOCHEMICTRY Phytochemistry is the chemistry of plants i.e. chemical Constituents present in the plant. chemical composition Of a drug refers to the active principles of the particular Drug based on which its action and properties can be determined. PLANT : Amorphous bitter ,echinetin The rare flavonoid chrysoeriol , its 7- glucoside and 7apioglycoside, two other flower apigenin and buteolin as glycosides , elaterin, isocucurbitacin- B ,the bitter elaterin-2-glucoside &b-sitosterol , glycoside have been reported from the fruits. Apiose in combined from was reported for the first time in family cuccurbitacea. Fruits yield echinatin and a saponin while oily solid separeated from the fruit oil showed the presences of heatriacontans and gyposgenin a sapogenin from the saponins. Cucurbitacin-B, b-sitosterol , a saponin and2-unidentified triterpene alcohols provisionally designated as echinatol-A and B- were isolated. On acid hydrolysis the saponin yielded glucose , rhamnase and olenolic acid ,palmitic , retaric , oleic & linoleicb fatty acid un seed oil were reported. The seeds yield 11.1 % of yellow or brownish red fatty oil charachterised by saponification value 143.0, The oil consists of 25 % saturated & 75% unsaturated.