PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
Momordica foetida
Cucurbitaceae FAMILY

Momordica foetida

Momordica foetida

Edibility
1/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

Although occasionally used for food, there are reports from Kenya that cattle avoid this plant and that it is poisonous[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

A plant of the tropics, found at elevations from near sea level to the mountains[2]. In Tanzania it grows in areas where the mean annual rainfall is in the range 1,100 - 2,100mm[3]. Tolerates a wide range of soils[3]. The plant is sometimes a weed of farmland within its native range[3]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are require[1].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Momordica+foetida>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  2. [2]The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. — Burkil. H. M. · Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. · 1985 - 2004 ↩︎Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/
  3. [3]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.
  4. [4]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  5. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎