Bitter melon, also known as cool melon, the ancient name of mange grape, brocade lychee, mange melon, etc., belongs to the cucurbitaceae bitter melon genus in the annual cultivated species. The fruit contains a glycoside with a special bitter flavor, so it is called bitter melon.

Bitter melon is an annual climbing herb. The root system is relatively developed, with many lateral roots, and the distribution of root groups reaches a diameter of more than 1 meter and a depth of up to 50 centimeters or more.

Bitter melon stem trailing, five-angled, dense green, tomentose. The axillary buds of each node of the main vine are very active and can produce lateral vines, while the axillary buds of each node of the lateral vines give birth to secondary lateral vines, forming a relatively luxuriant trailing leaf system. In addition to axillary buds at each stem node, tendrils and flower buds also occur. The tendrils are solitary.

Bitter melon is a dicotyledonous plant, cotyledons out of the ground. The primary leaves are 1 pair, opposite, peltate. Later true leaves are alternate, palmately parted, green, light green on the back, radial veins (usually with 5 radial veins), petiolate, yellowish-green, and stalked with grooves.

Bitter melon flowers are solitary, monoecious and dioecious. Plants generally have male flowers first, followed by female flowers. Male flower calyx bell-shaped, sepals 5 pieces, green; petals 5 pieces, yellow; with long flower stalk, long stalk bearing shield-shaped bracts, green. Stamens 3, separate, with 5 anthers, each curved into a nearly "S" shape, united with each other. Usually bloom at 8-9 am. Female flowers with 5 petals, the ovary inferior, yellow petals, long flower stalk, flower stalk also has a green bract in the middle, the pistil stigma 5 to 6-lobed, opening time is also in the morning at 8 to 9 o'clock.

Bitter melon fruit for the berry, the surface has many tumor-like protrusions, can be divided into scattered dense tumors and long straight tumors, two kinds of tumor-like protrusions separated from each other, some varieties of dense tumors or all dense tumors, some varieties are all straight tumors. Generally white bitter melon varieties of dense tumors, and green bitter melon varieties of long straight tumors accounted for a large proportion. The shape of the fruit has a fusiform, short conical, long conical, rod-shaped and so on. The skin of young fruits is intense green, green, yellowish green and greenish white, orange-yellow at maturity, and the flesh is cracked.

Bitter melon seeds are shield-shaped, yellow or yellowish, spongy greenish-white tissue wrapped around the seed before maturity, and the wrapper becomes bright red fleshy tissue after maturity, which is sweet and edible. The seed's hull is hard and thick, with a pattern on it. Generally each fruit contains 20 to 30 seeds, more than 50, the average weight of 1,000 grains is 150 to 180 grams.