Coccinia grandis
(scarlet-fruited ivy gourd)

Preferred Scientific Name

• Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt

Preferred Common Name

• scarlet-fruited ivy gourd

Other Scientific Names

• Bryonia acerifolia D.Dietr.
• Bryonia alceifolia Willd.
• Bryonia barbata Buch.-Ham. ex Cogn.
• Bryonia grandis L.
• Bryonia sinuosa Wall.
• Cephalandra grandis Kurz
• Cephalandra indica (Wight & Arn.) Naudin
• Cephalandra moghadd (Asch.) Broun & Massey
• Cephalandra schimperi Naudin
• Coccinia cordifolia Cogn.
• Coccinia grandis var. wightiana (M.Roem.) Greb.
• Coccinia helenae Buscal. & Muschl.
• Coccinia indica Wight & Arn.
• Coccinia loureiriana M.Roem.
• Coccinia moghadd (J.F.Gmel.) Asch.
• Coccinia moimoi M.Roem.
• Coccinia palmatisecta Kotschy
• Coccinia schimperi Naudin
• Coccinia wightiana M.Roem.
• Cucumis pavel Kostel.
• Cucurbita dioica Roxb. ex Wight & Arn.
• Momordica bicolor Blume

International Common Names

• English: ivy gourd; kovai fruit; little gourd; scarlet gourd; tindora
• Spanish: pepino cimarrón
• Chinese: hong gua

Local Common Names

• Bangladesh: telakucha
• Germany: Scharlachranke; Tindola
• India: ban-kundri (Oriya); bimbika (Sanskrit); donda kaya (Telugu); kova (Malayalam); koval (Malayalam); kundree; kundru (Hindi); kunduru (Hindi); tindori; tondikay (Kannada); tondli (Marathi)
• Malaysia/Peninsular Malaysia: pepasan
• Marshall Islands: kiuri awai
• Micronesia, Federated states of: aipikohrd (Pohnpei)
• Pakistan: kanduri (Urdu); kundur (Urdu)
• Sweden: scharlakansgurka
• Tonga: kiukamapa ae initia

EPPO code

• COCGR (Coccinia grandis)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Violales
•                         Family: Cucurbitaceae
•                             Genus: Coccinia
•                                 Species: Coccinia grandis

Adapted from Englberger (2009) and Muniappan et al. (2009):

C. grandis is a dioecious, perennial, herbaceous vine that can grow between 9 and 28 m long. It has glabrous stems, an extensive tuberous root system and axillary tendrils.

The alternate, simple leaves have a broadly ovate, 5-lobed, 5-9 by 4-9 cm. The flowers are white, star-shaped with 5 petals. The fruit is a smooth, bright red, ovoid to ellipsoid berry, 5-7.1 cm long.

C. grandis has been introduced to Asia, Australia, the Pacific region, the Caribbean and southern United States, primarily as a food crop (Muniappan et al., 2009).

Accidental Introduction

C. grandis can be spread by its seeds, which can be carried by birds, rodents and possibly pigs. It can also be spread by its tuberous roots and soil movement (Englberger, 2009). Stems of C. grandis readily strike roots at nodes when they come into contact with soil (Muniappan et al., 2009).

Intentional Introduction

The plant is used in medicine and as food and so is often deliberately introduced by humans (Englberger, 2009). This has accounted for much of the long distance dispersal of C. grandis.

Adapted from Muniappan et al. (2009):

As well as covering agricultural areas, C. grandis hosts a number of insect species that are known to attack several commercially important Cucurbitaceae species. These insects include: Diaphania indica (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), Aulacophora spp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae), Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Liriomyza spp. (Diptera: Agromyzidae), Leptoglossus australis (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Coreidae) and Bemisia spp. (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae).

C. grandis grows aggressively can smother and kill native vegetation, including mature trees. In Hawaii, where it is naturalized, it quickly spreads through disturbed sites, smothering both trees and understory vegetation (Muniappan et al., 2009).

C. grandis can cover ‘fences, power poles, and other human-made structures in residential neighbourhoods and agricultural areas’ (Muniappan et al., 2009).

C. grandis is used in traditional Bengali medicine to treat diabetes (Ocvirk et al., 2013).

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Fast growing

C. grandis is used in cooking and medicine. The immature fruit and shoot tips are used in Asian cooking (Muniappan et al., 2009), and the fruit is eaten in India and Ethiopia (Addis, 2013; Rani et al., 2013). C. grandis is commonly used as a wild vegetable in rural areas of Kannauj districts in Uttar Pradesh, India (Kumar, 2013). The plant is high in protein (Addis, 2013).

C. grandis is reported to have a wide range of medicinal properties. Pekamwar et al. (2013) reported C. grandis to have ‘analgesic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiulcer, antidiabetic, antioxidant, hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective, antimalarial, antidyslipidemic, anticancer, antitussive [and] mutagenic’ properties. Very low concentrations of crude extract of C. grandis were shown to have an inhibitory effect on the cervical cancer cell line HeLa (Varalakshmi, 2012).

Additionally, C. grandis fruit mucilage was shown to reduce water turbidity by 77.67% in a study by Gaurand and Punita (2012).