PUBLISHED IN: Monographiae Phanerogamarum 3: 513. 1881.

TYPE: Japan, Thunberg 22775 (UPS).

ETYMOLOGY: bristly, covered in coarse, erect, stubbly hairs.

BASIONYM: Cucurbita hispida Thunb., Flora Japonica,… 322. 1784.

SYNONYMY: Benincasa cerifera Savi, Bibliot. Ital. (Milan) 9: 158. 1818. (Mem. sopra Piant. Cucurb. 1: 6. 1818.).
     Benincasa cylindrica Hort. ex Ser., DC. Prod. 3: 303.
     Benincasa vacua (F.Muell.) F.Muell., Systematic Census of Australian Plants 76. 1883.

INFRASPECIFIC TAXA: Benincasa hispida var. chieh-qua F. C. How, Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 3(1): 76. 1954. Type: Guaangzhou, S. H. Chung 383. July 1953. (SCBI).

VERNACULAR NAME: wax gourd

OTHER VERNACULAR NAMES: winter melon, Chinese winter melon, Chinese preserving melon, fuzzy gourd, hairy gourd/melon/cucumber, white gourd, ash pumpkin, tallow gourd, joined gourd
     Burmese: kyauk-hpayon
     Chinese: dong gua or tung kua (winter gourd), moa gua or moqua (hairy gourd), jie gua/chit chewie (node/joint gourd), tsit/tse chewie (fuzzy melon), pai kua, shui chih, tung chewie, tseetgwa
     Danish: voksagurk
     Filipino: kondol
     French: calebassier, courge à la cire, courge cireuse, pastèque de Chine
     German: Wachskürbis, Weißer Kürbis, Prügelkürbis
     Hindi: petha, chaul kumra, kohala
     Indonesian: bleego,beleegoo, beligo, koondoor, kundur, tangkue
     Italian: benincasa, zucca della cera
     Japanese: tougan, tôga, togwa, kamo-uri
     Malay: kundur, kundor panjang
     Portuguese: benincasa, abóbora de água
     Spanish: calabaza blanca, calabaza china
     Tagalog: kundol (kandol)
     Turkish: mom kabagi
     Thai: fak kio, faeng, mafeng, phat
     Vietnamese: bí bee, bí dao

CULTIVARS: Longa group including ‘xichangda’, Oblongata group including ‘cangcui’ and ‘huipi’, Rotundata group, and many lanraces.

DESCRIPTION: Flower: petals yellow; Fruit: coated with wax, round or oblong, 3 to 20 kg, flesh white.

CHROMOSOME NUMBER: 2n = 24

DISTRIBUTION: Cultivated in the tropicsand subtropics worldwide but primarily in Asia. Possibly native to southern China.

ECOLOGY: Humid-heat tolerant.

EDIBLE USE: Immature and mature fruit eaten raw like cucumber or, more commonly, as a cooked vegetable; sometimes also pickled or candied. The globose or ovoid fruit when hollowed out from one end, can be used as a soup bowl. Cooked young leaves and flower buds.

MEDICINAL USE:

OTHER USE:

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE: Food plant of particular importance in India and China. Fruits can have a shelf life of several years.

CONSERVATION:

CULTIVATION PRACTICES:

SEEDS AVAILABLE FROM: USA: B & T World Seeds, Mahyco American, Inc., Mountain Valley Seed, Inc., Siegers Seed Co.
     China: Clover Seed Company Ltd.
     India: Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Co. Ltd., Sheetal Hybrid Seeds Exports Co.
     Japan: Tokita Seed Co., Ltd.
     Thailand: East-West Seed Company

LITERATURE: Gowder, R. B. and N. V. Raman. 1956. A new ash gourd type (Benincasa sp.). S. Indian Hort. 4: 132–133 + pl.
     Keraudren, M. 1966. Cucurbitacees. Flore de Madagascar et des Comores. 185: 1–165.
     Keraudren-Aymonin, M. 1990. Cucurbitacées. Flore des Mascareignes: la Réunion, Maurice, Rodrigues. 101: 1–21.
     Morton, J. F. 1971. The wax gourd, a year-round Florida vegetable with unusual keeping quality. Florida State Hort. Soc. Proc. 84: 104–109.
     Siddique, M. I., M. Ahmed, J. A. Awan, S. U. Rehman, and A. Ahmed. 1990. Production of wax gourd candy by using high fructose syrup. J. Food Sci. Technol. 27 (4): 205–208.
     Walters, D & T. 2000. The bobbing Benincasa. The Cucurbit Network 7(2): 1–3.

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