Common Name:

General Information

Momordica foetida is a herbaceous, climbing, perennial plant producing annual stems up to 4.5 metres long from a stout perennial rootstock[]. The stems scramble over the ground, producing new roots where the nodes touch the ground, and climbing into the surrounding vegetation where they can support themselves by means of tendrils[].
The plant has a range of local medicinal and edible uses. It is usually gathered from the wild, though it is occasionally cultivated[]. The orange fruits are attractive in appearance especially when they have burst open, exposing the red pulp studded with the black seeds[].

Known Hazards

Although occasionally used for food, there are reports from Kenya that cattle avoid this plant and that it is poisonous[].

Botanical References

Range

Africa - drier areas from Sierra Leone to Ethiopia, south to S. Africa.

Habitat

Open clearings in the forest zone, abandoned farmland, roadsides[]. Forest edges and clearings; margins of swamp and riverine forest and at edges of thickets; also a weed in farmland and a colonizer of disturbed ground, up to 2,400 metres[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	3.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the tropics, found at elevations from near sea level to the mountains[]. In Tanzania it grows in areas where the mean annual rainfall is in the range 1,100 - 2,100mm[].
Tolerates a wide range of soils[].
The plant is sometimes a weed of farmland within its native range[].
A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are require[].

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked and used as a vegetable[, ]. They have a rank smell and a bitter taste, nevertheless they are sometimes eaten after suitable preparation[]. They seem fairly unpopular and are eaten in small quantities only, usually in times of scarcity[, ]. They are cooked with pumpkin leaves as a side-dish and eaten as a women’s food - men refusing their bitterness[].

The pulp of ripe fruits is eaten by several native peoples[, ]. However, in some areas the fruit-pulp is regarded as poisonous to weevils, moths and ants and is used as a repellent[]. The orange fruit is a long-stalked, ellipsoid berry up to 7cm long and 5cm wide, densely and softly spiny, dehiscing with 3 valves and exposing the many seeds embedded in a scarlet pulp[].

The tuberous root is considered to be edible in Sudan, though in Tanzania it is recorded as being purgative[].

Medicinal

The plant is considered to be aphrodisiac, emetic, emmenagogue and parturient[]. It is given to women in cases of difficult delivery[]. The young leaves are eaten as a treatment for stomach-ache and are also used for dropsical conditions[].
The leaf-sap is drunk to treat intestinal disorders, nose bleeds and severe headache[].
A leaf-decoction is used to wash those suffering from small-pox[]. The leaves are crushed in the hands and rubbed on parts affected by the spitting cobra, Naja nigrocollis, to prevent inflammation, it works best if applied within a few minutes of the attack[]. The liquid from crushed leaves is applied to the ears when treating earache[].

The tuberous root is purgative[]. It is used in the treatment of intestinal worms and constipation[]. It is also used to wash small children and their mother’s breasts as a tonic in malaria[]. A root-decoction containing other drug plants is taken for treating boils[].

Triterpenes of the cucurbitacin type, found in both this species and in Momordica charantia, particularly in the fruits and seeds, are potentially cytotoxic[].
Momordicines and foetidin (identical to charantin) were reported from the fruits and leaves[]. Momordicines have been found to be both bacteriostatic and insecticidal; foetidin was shown to lower blood glucose levels in normal rats, but it had no significant effect in diabetic animals[].
Foetidin has slight antispasmodic and anticholinergic effects[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The plants presence in vegetation is considered to indicate good cacao soil[].

Other Uses

The leaves are soaked and dried in the sun and then used as a stuffing material in cushions[, ]. There is possibly an insect-repellent action[].

The fruit pulp is said to be poisonous to weevils, moths and ants, and it is used as an insect repellent[, ].

Propagation

Seed -

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