Description

Bitter gourd is a vegetable and medicinal plant of the family Cucurbitaceae, cultivated in tropical and subtropical Asia and characterized by its spiny skin pattern and bitter taste. Bitter gourd fruits are rich in vitamin C, minerals, and carotenes. Bitter gourd fruits contain substances with the antidiabetic effect such as charatin, vicine, and polypeptide-p, which may improve insulin sensitivity and decrease blood glucose level.

Scientific classitication

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Genus: Momordica

Common Name

Ku Gua, Bitter gourd

Reference

Matsumura, H., Hsiao, M. C., Lin, Y. P., Toyoda, A., Taniai, N., Tarora, K., Urasaki, N., Anand, S. S., Dhillon, N., Schafleitner, R., & Lee, C. R. (2020). Long-read bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) genome and the genomic architecture of nonclassic domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(25), 14543–14551.

Reference

Cui, J., Yang, Y., Luo, S. et al. Whole-genome sequencing provides insights into the genetic diversity and domestication of bitter gourd (Momordica spp.). Hortic Res 7, 85 (2020).