PlantFiles: Ivy Gourd
Coccinia grandis

The Ivy Gourd was brought to this country from the old world as a medicinal and food plant. It has escaped cultivation in Brevard and Dade Counties, Florida.

The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if fruit is required). The plant is not self-fertile, so requires insects to be fertilized. The male flowers provide the pollen, but do NOT have parts to provide fruit. This requires the female flower.

The flowers are white with 5 petals.This plant is very easy to grow from any method OTHER than seed. Difficult to grow from seed.Cuttings grow roots very easily.This plant can be invasive.The young leaves are good to eat as a pot herb cooked similar to turnip greens.This plant is EXTREMELY popular in INDIA. Regardless what you may hear or read about the FRUITS of this plant,BOTH the red ripe fruits and the green unripe fruits are good to eat raw or cooked. The green fruits make a great ingredient in stir fry,and remain crunchy.Other common names for it are...ivy gourd-dondakai-tindla-parval-thainli-kovakkai.

also known as "scarlet-fruited gourd" it is a pest plant in Hawaii, an aggressive weedy vine from Africa, Asia, Australia. It has tendrils, ivy-like leaves, white bell shaped flowers and red fruit 1-1/2" long. There's some that grows behind my property and I have to remove it periodically from my fence to hinder its spread. I'll find it sprouting here and there and have to get main root to keep it from growing back.