Common name: Beej Karela बीज करेला (Hindi)
Botanical name: Herpetospermum pedunculosum Family: Cucurbitaceae (pumpkin family)
Beej karela is a large herbaceous climber on shrubs and banks, with long
branched tendrils. Leaves ovate-heart-shaped, acute or long-pointed, often
coarsely and shallowly lobed, rough-hairy, long-stalked. Flowers are large,
bright yellow, unisexual. Male flowers clustered; female flowers solitary.
The flowers are 4-5 cm across, and consists of a slender funnel-shaped tube
and spreading elliptic petals. The fruit is ellipsoid, about 8 cm long, finely
hairy.
| Photographed in Govindghat, Uttaranchal. |
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