Species
+

Luffa aegyptiaca Mill.

Esponja, Estropajo, Loofah, Plant sponge, Luffa Sponge

Climate known 50 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Luffa aegyptiaca, the sponge gourd, Egyptian cucumber or Vietnamese luffa, is an annual species of vine cultivated for its fruit, native to South and Southeast Asia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Luffa aegyptiaca”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Luffa

Luffa is a genus of tropical and subtropical vines in the pumpkin, squash and gourd family (Cucurbitaceae).

Text from Wikipedia, “Luffa”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cucurbitaceae
Described by
Mill.
Native to
Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya +2
Wild records
139 in range· 22 open

At a glance

Warmest month
37°C
May, mean day; nights 26 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1253mm/yr
6 wet months · peak Jul 341 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–44DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1253 mm a year, wettest July at 341 mm, driest December at 10 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 8.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Bryonia cheirophylla Wall.; Cucumis acutangulus Wall.; Cucumis pentandrus Roxb.; Cucumis pentandrus Roxb. ex Wight & Arn.; Cucurbita luffa and 32 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1019 mm of 1253 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 28.5 °C against a yearly mean of 26.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1253 mm a year, wettest July at 341 mm, driest December at 10 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1253 mm a year at the habitat, 1019 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 341 mm, driest December at 10 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 734 mm to 2745 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 8.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 8.6 °C, the absolute minimum 3.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 45.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells 7.7 °C to 20.7 °C), warmest day 36.7 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 51 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Dec to 37 °C in May; mean night from 15 °C in Jan to 27 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1253 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 117 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 3.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 45.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°45.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)3.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 26–44RH 51–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 117 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 20–3029 / 24–3233 / 29–3536 / 31–3937 / 30–4034 / 28–3831 / 27–3431 / 27–3331 / 28–3330 / 28–3328 / 26–3127 / 22–29
Night °C15 / 8–2116 / 10–2220 / 15–2324 / 20–2626 / 23–2827 / 23–2825 / 23–2725 / 23–2624 / 22–2522 / 19–2518 / 14–2315 / 9–22
Rain mm12 / 2–2614 / 1–2915 / 1–4518 / 2–10451 / 9–247163 / 62–518341 / 98–871309 / 126–581206 / 109–35995 / 18–20919 / 6–17510 / 4–66
DLI31 / 25–3536 / 31–4041 / 38–4444 / 38–4742 / 34–4734 / 26–4126 / 23–3326 / 23–3330 / 26–3532 / 29–3529 / 27–3228 / 24–32
RH %55 / 49–6053 / 45–5951 / 41–6053 / 38–6255 / 41–6458 / 50–6965 / 58–7166 / 58–7164 / 58–6961 / 50–6555 / 48–6454 / 49–62

Each figure is the median across the 117 grid cells holding the 137 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1353:5063 (22.325, 73.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 45.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 117 distinct grid cells holding the 137 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1353:5063 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.50_73.125, lapse-corrected -11 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 36 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAssam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, West Himalaya· introduced: Albania, Tunisia, Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Iraq, Yemen, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Korea, Laccadive Is., Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Maluku, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Fiji, Nauru, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay
Kew's description“climbing annual” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker22.581, 78.137 · in the densest population, 70 records (50% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 139 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 22 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1168 km away. 1542 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 139 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Luffa aegyptiacaLuffa aegyptiacaLuffa aegyptiacaLuffa aegyptiacaLuffa aegyptiacaLuffa aegyptiacaLuffa aegyptiacaLuffa aegyptiaca

Photographs: (c) Andre Hosper, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Carlos Martínez, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Francisco Farriols Sarabia, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) renjus box, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Luffa aegyptiaca, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Regulation of pathogenicity in hop stunt viroid-related group II citrus viroids.
Kanungnit Reanwarakorn, J. S. Semancik (1998) · Journal of General Virology
Effect of Luffa aegyptiaca (seeds) and Carissa edulis (leaves) extracts on blood glucose level of normal and streptozotocin diabetic rats
Fathy K. El-Fiky, Mohamed A. Abou-Karam, Elham A. Afify (1996) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Production of bacterial cellulose using Gluconacetobacter kombuchae immobilized on Luffa aegyptiaca support
Sameeha Syed Abdul Rahman, T. Vaishnavi, G. Sai Vidyasri, K. Sathya (2021) · Scientific Reports
In vitro antimalarial activity of six medicinal plants
Messanvi Gbéassor, A. Y. Kedjagni, Kossi Honoré Koumaglo, Comlan de Souza (1990) · Phytotherapy Research
Influence of variety, wine style, vintage and viticultural area on selected chemical parameters of Canadian Icewine
George J. Soleas, Gary J. Pickering (2007) · Journal of Food Agriculture & Environment
Comparative Genome Analysis of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma luffae’ Reveals the Influential Roles of Potential Mobile Units in Phytoplasma Evolution
Ching-Ting Huang, Shu‐Ting Cho, Yu-Chen Lin, Choon‐Meng Tan (2022) · Frontiers in Microbiology
Three New Alien Taxa for Europe and a Chorological Update on the Alien Vascular Flora of Calabria (Southern Italy)
Valentina Lucia Astrid Laface, Carmelo María Musarella, Ana Cano-Ortíz, Ricardo Quinto Canas (2020) · Plants
Anti-cancer and anti-oxidant activity of some Egyptian medicinal plants.
Amr Nassrallah, Ahmed M. Aboul‐Enein, Khalid M. Aboul-Enein, David A. Lightfoot (2009) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research
Mapping metabolome changes in Luffa aegyptiaca Mill fruits at different maturation stages via MS-based metabolomics and chemometrics
Amal A. Maamoun, Radwa H. El‐Akad, Mohamed A. Farag (2019) · Journal of Advanced Research
The role of peroxidase in the enzymatic oxidation of phenolic compounds to quinones from Luffa aegyptiaca (gourd) fruit juice
Meera Yadav, Nivedita Rai, Hardeo Singh Yadav (2017) · Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 165 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.