Has the effects of clearing away heat, resolving phlegm, cooling blood and detoxicating. Commonly used for fever, polydipsia, cough, phlegm and asthma, intestinal wind bleeding, hemorrhoid bleeding, bloody stranguria, metrorrhagia, carbuncle, mammary obstruction, and nameless swelling.

Nutritional value and efficacy of towel gourd

Luffa contains protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin B 1, vitamin C, xylose gum, plant mucus, citrulline and so on. Has the effects of clearing away heat and resolving phlegm, removing toxic substances, moistening dryness, and expelling parasites, and can be used for treating chest pain caused by postpartum hypogalactia, qi stagnation and blood stasis, cough due to lung heat, and sore throat. The branches and leaves of the stems of Luffa have the special function of beauty and wrinkle removal, and the roots of Luffa can also be used for disinfection, sterilization and antisepsis. Ordinary people can eat loofah, especially those with irregular menstruation and physical fatigue, but loofah should not be eaten raw and must be steamed until it is cooked.

morphological character

1, Luffa: an annual climbing herb. Stems and branches are rough, wrinkled and puberulent. The stem must be stout, usually 2-4 branches. Leaves alternate; Petiole is rough, long 10- 12cm, nearly hairless; Leaf blade triangular or nearly round, length and width 10- 12cm, usually palmately 5-7-lobed, with triangular lobes, long in the middle and 8- 12cm in length, sharp washing end, serrated edge, deep heart-shaped base, dark green at the top, warty at the bottom, palm-shaped. Flowers unisexual, monoecious; Male flowers are usually 10-20 flowers, born at the top of racemes, with stout pedicels, 12- 14cm long and 2 cm pedicels. Calyx tube campanulate, pubescent; Corolla yellow, amplitude, 5-9cm in diameter after opening, 5 lobes, oblong, 0.8- 1.3cm in length and 0.4-0.7cm in width, yellow-white villous inside, 3-5 lateral veins, 5 stamens, 3 sparse filaments, 6-8mm in initial opening, and finally completely separated. Female flowers are solitary, with pedicels 2-10 cm long; Perianth is the same as male flower, staminodes 3, ovary long cylindrical, pilose, stigma 3, swollen. The fruit is cylindrical, straight or slightly curved, with a length of 15-30cm and a diameter of 5-8cm. The surface is smooth, usually with dark longitudinal stripes. Fleshy when immature, dry when mature, with reticular fibers inside and covered by the top. Seeds are numerous, black, oval, flat, smooth, with narrow wings. The flowering and fruiting periods are summer and autumn.