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Momordica charantia, Linn. Balsam Pear. Fig. 2382. Running 10 ft. or more, the st. slightly pubescent and furrowed: lvs. roundish, dull green, pubescent beneath (at least on the ribs), 5-7 lobes with rounded sinuses, the lobes sharp-toothed and notched: fls. yellow, 1 in. across, both the sterile and fertile solitary: fr. yellowish, oblong, pointed, furrowed lengthwise and tuberculate, 6 or 7 in. long, at maturity splitting into 3 divisions and disclosing the bright scarlet arils of the white or brown carved- seeds. Trop. Asia and Afr., and naturalized in W. Indies. B.M. 2455. G.C. III. 52:473. A.G. 13:525.—The Chinese gardeners about the American cities grow this plant under the name of la-kwa, for the edible pulpy arils surrounding the seeds, and also for the edible fr. itself (which is prepared, usually by boiling, before it is ripe). The rind is sometimes dried and used in medicinal preparations (see Bailey, Bull. No. 67, Cornell Exp. Sta., with illustrations). The odd seeds cause it to be called the "art pumpkin" by some persons.
Var abbreviata, Ser. (M. zeylanica, Mill.). Plant smaller: lobes of lvs. narrower: fr. shorter, ovate- mucronate, with rows of sharp spines; seeds small, commonly smooth. In the tropics.—Perhaps specifically distinct; but M. Charantia runs into many forms.
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