Cucurbitaceae
Luffa

Luffa operculata (L.) Cogn.

First published in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 6(4): 12 (1878)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Mexico to N. & E. Brazil. It is a climber and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome. It is used as a medicine and for food.

Distribution

Native to:

Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Venezuela

Synonyms

Homotypic Synonyms

Heterotypic Synonyms

Classification

Kew's Tree of Life Explorer

Discover the flowering plant tree of life and the genomic data used to build it.

View the Tree of Life
PAFTOL

Publications

POWO follows these authorities in accepting this name:

  • Brako, L. & Zarucchi, J.L. (1993). Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 45: i-xl, 1-1286. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  • Hammel, B.E., Grayum, M.H., Herrera & C. & Zamora, N. (eds.) (2010). Manual de plantas de Costa Rica volumen V. Dicotiledóneas (Clusiaceae-Gunneraceae). Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 119: 1-970. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  • Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.
  • Stevens, W.D., Ulloa U., C., Pool, A. & Montiel, O.M. (2001). Flora de Nicaragua. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 85: i-xlii, 1-2666. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  • Villaseñor, J.L. (2016). Checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87: 559-902.
  • de Moura Júnior, E.G. & al. (2015). Updated checklist of aquatic macrophytes from Northern Brazil. Acta Amazonica 45: 111-132.

Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

  • Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Brako, L. & Zarucchi, J.L. (1993). Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 45: i-xl, 1-1286. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  • Forzza, R.C., Zappi, D. & Souza, V.C. (2016-continuously updated). Flora do Brasil 2020 em construção http://reflora.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/listaBrasil/ConsultaPublicaUC/ResultadoDaConsultaNovaConsulta.do.
  • GBIF (2008-2020). Global Biodiversity Information Facility http://www.gbif.org/.
  • Hammel, B.E., Grayum, M.H., Herrera & C. & Zamora, N. (eds.) (2010). Manual de plantas de Costa Rica volumen V. Dicotiledóneas (Clusiaceae-Gunneraceae). Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 119: 1-970. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  • Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.
  • Stevens, W.D., Ulloa U., C., Pool, A. & Montiel, O.M. (2001). Flora de Nicaragua. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 85: i-xlii, 1-2666. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  • Villaseñor, J.L. (2016). Checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 87: 559-902.
  • de Moura Júnior, E.G. & al. (2015). Updated checklist of aquatic macrophytes from Northern Brazil. Acta Amazonica 45: 111-132.

Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

  • Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R., & Celis, M. (eds.). (2020). Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia. v1.1. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Dataset/Checklist. https://doi.org/10.15472/7avdhn
  • Diazgranados et al. (2021). Catalogue of plants of Colombia. Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project. In prep.
  • Diazgranados, M., Allkin, B., Black N., Cámara-Leret, R., Canteiro C., Carretero J., Eastwood R., Hargreaves S., Hudson A., Milliken W., Nesbitt, M., Ondo, I., Patmore, K., Pironon, S., Turner, R., Ulian, T. (2020). World Checklist of Useful Plant Species. Produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity.
  • FPI (2021). Food Plants International. https://fms.cmsvr.com/fmi/webd/Food_Plants_World?homeurl=https://foodplantsinternational.com/plants/
  • GBIF.org (2021). GBIF species matching tool. https://www.gbif.org/tools/species-lookup
  • GRIN (2021). Germplasm Resources Information Network from the United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.ars-grin.gov/
  • Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humbodlt (2014). Plantas alimenticias y medicinales nativas de Colombia. 2567 registros, aportados por: Castellanos, C. (Contacto del recurso), Valderrama, N. (Creador del recurso, Autor), Bernal, Y. (Autor), García, N. (Autor). http://i2d.humboldt.org.co/ceiba/resource.do?r=ls_colombia_magnoliophyta_2014
  • Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) v.10 (2021); http://mpns.kew.org/
  • Plants for malaria, plants for fever: Medicinal species in Latin America, a bibliographic survey: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • RBG, Kew (2021). Kew Economic Botany Collection. https://ecbot.science.kew.org/

Other Data

Other Kew resources that provide information on this taxon:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status Has image?
Smith, H.H. [1614] Colombia K003451810 Yes
Graham, J.; Schunke Vigo, J. [382] Peru K003451821 Yes
Mexia, Y. [6402] Peru K003451820 Yes
Smith, H.H. [2671] Colombia K003451816 Yes
Stergios, B.; Stergios, P. [8799] Venezuela K003451807 Yes
Trail, J.W.H. [361] Brazil K001139605 Yes
Mori, S. [21723] Brazil K001139598 Yes
Castillo, A. [338] Venezuela K003451806 Yes
Mr. Parker [s.n.] Guyana K003451755 Yes
Davidse, G.; González, A. [14764] Venezuela K003451805 Yes
s.coll. [9876] Brazil K003451822 Yes
Campbell, D.G. [P21200] Brazil K001139602 Yes
Kriebel, R.; Chavarría, Hammel, B.; Pérez, I. [5015] Costa Rica K001890068 Yes
Harris, S.A. [TP568] Guyana K003451754 Yes
Grandez, C.; Vasquez, R.; Jaramillo, N.; Alván, J. [381] Peru K003451818 Yes
Krukoff, B.A. [5934] Brazil K001139604 Yes
Burch, D.; Baker, R.K.; Oliver, R.L. [1009] Panama K003451803 Yes
Vasquez, R.; Jaramillo, N. [6478] Peru K003451819 Yes
Vasquez, R.; Jaramillo, N.; Espiritu, S. [4842] Peru K003451823 Yes
André, E. [K403] Colombia K003451815 Yes
Anderson, B. [1883] Colombia K003451808 Yes
Prance, G.T. [13434] Brazil K001139600 Yes
Davidse, G.; González, A. [13819] Venezuela K003451804 Yes
Graham, V. [289] Guyana K003451753 Yes
[Gardner] [1] Grenada K003451811 Yes
Prance, G.T. [23416] Brazil K001139606 Yes
Prance, G.T. [16826] Brazil K001139599 Yes
André, E. [181] Colombia K003451812 Yes
Whalley, O.; Beresford-Jones, D. [021] Peru K003451817 Yes
Prance, G.T. [24481] Brazil K001139601 Yes
Cuatrecasas, J. [[2401]] Colombia K003451809 Yes
Scardino [335] Brazil K001139596 Yes
André, É. [K403] Colombia K003451814 Yes
André, E. [182] Colombia K003451813 Yes
Stork, H.E.; Eyerdam, W.J.; Beetle, A.A. [8998] Ecuador K003451756 Yes
Rosa, N.A. [2969] Brazil K001139597 Yes
Burchell [8147] Brazil K001139603 Yes
Asplund, E. [s.n.] Ecuador K003451824 Yes

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0