Ash Gourd is distributed throughout India up to an altitude of 1,200 ft. It is a large climbing or trailing herb having stout, angular and hispid stems.
Its fruit is fleshy, succulent and densely hairy and is used as a vegetable. The flesh is white and spongy. The upper surface of the leaves (large and long petioled) is sparsely pilose and scabrous. The lower surface is rigidly hispid. The flowers are large, monoecious and solitary in leaf axils.
The fruits consist of calcium and other minerals. The fruit exhibits tonic, nutritive and diuretic properties. Wax Gourd, White Gourd, and White Pumpkin are its other names.
