Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour.) Spreng.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 60-61

Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour.) Spreng.

Names.

Myanmar: hpak-se-saw, samon-nwe, taw-thabut, tha-myet. English: Chinese bitter-cucumber, Chinese-cucumber, spiny bitter-cucumber, spiny bittergourd.

Range.

Temperate and tropical Asia, from China to the Moluccas; Australia. In Myanmar, found in Bago, Rakhine, and Yangon.

Uses.

Fruit: Used as a laxative. Seed: Used to treat chest problems and in parturition.

Notes.

The medicinal uses of this species in India are discussed in Jain and DeFilipps (1991). Medicinal uses of this species in China are discussed in Duke and Ayensu (1985). Perry (1980) discusses the medicinal uses of the species in East and Southeast Asian countries as follows: In China, where the seeds are used for abdominal illnesses, liver and spleen disorders, and hemorrhoids as well as bruises, swellings, skin trouble, ulcers, lumbago, chronic malaria, breast cancer, abscesses, and as a resolvent, and the root is used as an expectorant; Indo-China, where the seeds are ground and soaked in alcohol and water, then used as a resolvent of furuncles, abscesses, buboes, and mumps, and also in the treatment of edema of the legs and a kind of rheumatism; the Malay Peninsula, where "the Chinese living there use the plant in same way as in China"; Indonesia, where the juice the leaves is put in fresh palm wine, or the leaves are cooked in wine and used as remedy for weary, swollen legs; and in the Philippines, where the seeds are used as a pectoral, and the root as a substitute for soap and also to kill head lice.

Medicinal uses in the Guianas (Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana) are discussed in DeFilipps et al. (2004).

Reported chemical constituents include momordin, a-spinasterol, and sesquibenihiol. The seeds have a fixed oil comprised of stearic, palmitic, oleic, linoleic, and ri cinoleic acids, and also trehalose, resinous, and pectic substances; and that the root contains momordine ( Perry 1980).

References.

Nordal (1963), Perry (1980).