The ivy gourd belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family that includes cucumber, bitter melon, various gourds and sweet melons. The young leaves and fruits (young and ripe) are popular in the different states of India, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and India. Thus, this plant is also known by different names: tindora, kovai, kundru, scarlet gourd, tam leung, sloekbaas and timun padang to name a few.
I was in Ipoh from June – July 2024. While walking along the footpaths in front of the St Michael’s Catholic Church, I noticed the red Hibiscus sinensis bushes covered with a climbing vine with attractive ivy-shaped leaves.
On more careful observations, I noticed that leaves were variable in shape: heart-shaped, 5-lobed with variations in widths and lengths of lobes to highly dissected 5-lobes. I hypothetised that the different leaf shapes were triggered by environmental factors like light intensity as some of the shoots grew under more shade than others. However, after examining a few more plants growing at different spots in Ipoh I rejected my hypothesis. (Images 2 -5)
On further scrutiny, I started seeing tiny green cucumbers with wavy white stripes and orangish and tomato red cucumbers. This is the ivy gourd, Coccinia grandis. I collected some green and ripe fruits to look at them more closely in an air-conditioned environment.
On another day I noticed a dwarf honey bee, Apis florea hive on the upper branches of a hibiscus plant.
The plants are dioecious, that is, female flowers and male flowers are borne on different plants. All the plants growing outside the church bear fruits and all the flowers had a swollen ovary below the petals. No stamens nor male plants were seen! Eventually, I came across a male plant growing on the mesh fence of a public carpark opposite the Greentown Klinik. The white blooms were very abundant on the male plant. Bonus: a bee was visiting a male flower.
After sighting the plants growing outside the church, I started noticing the plants in the most unlikely of places: along overhead wires, skirting the edges of banners, mesh fence around a public carpark.
I consumed a green fruit. It was crunchy and tasted like cucumber (Family: Cucurbitaceae, Cucumis sativus) but had a bitter gourd (Family: Cucurbitaceae, Momordica charantia) bitterness as an after-taste. The red fruits were soft and had the colour and texture of ripe tomatoes, tasted pleasantly sweet and bitterness was notably absent.
Food source for organisms
The young leaves, stems, tendrils, green and red fruits are foraged for food in India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Indonesia. The red fruits are eaten fresh and green fruits are served as side dishes to accompany rice meals.
Different parts of the plants are used as home remedies to counter diabetes, inflammations and biliary disease. The fruits are exported to Singapore via online platforms.
View this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFf9i_ocXPU to catch a glimpse of Indonesian style use of leaves and fruits.
The fruits are eaten by birds, bats and rodents. Thus, these animals aid in seed dispersal. https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/biosecurity/plants/invasive/other/ivy-gourd
In areas where these plants grow uncontrolled they are considered weeds as their prolific growth choke the native plants by cutting off sunlight. The ivy gourds are also reservoirs of ring spot virus which hinder the growth of papaya plants. Melon flies on ivy gourds affect the commercial melon industry negatively. Read https://web.archive.org/web/20060111080830/http://www.crees.org/weeds/scarlet-gourd.htm
Conclusion
The species is cultivated in home gardens in Ipoh and have gone feral with the help of birds.
Note: I travelled by diesel train from Johor Bahru (JB) to Gemas where I stayed two nights to explore this railway town. The town has its own character and I was introduced to the tasty herbal bitter gourd soup. The Seri Gemas Florist was well-stocked with yarns, ribbons, buttons and other home decor items. The women folk here are home proud and decorate their dwellings with their own creations.
I then continued the journey to Ipoh by Electric train (ETS). I gorged myself silly on Chee Cheong Fun (Cantonese for steamed rice sheets eaten with a variety of sauces), Kai Si Hor Fun (Cantonese for shredded chicken and flat rice noodle) and Bean sprouts chicken. Looking forward to visit Ipoh again to try the Salt-baked chicken, Tau Foo Fah (Cantonese for bean curd in syrup), Hakka Yong Tau Foo (Cantonese for an assortment of vegetables stuffed with minced pork and fish paste), Ipoh White Coffee and Teh Tarek (Malay for frothy milk tea). I am sure the feathered birds will still be feeding on the plentiful ivy gourds on my next visit.
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