Family : Cucurbitaceae
English: Bitter apple
Hindi : Badi indrayan
Gujarati : Indravaruni, Indravarna
Sanskrit : Indravaruni
Part used : Fruit
Bitter Apple
Bitter Apple
Botanical Description: An extensively trailing annual herb with bifid tendrils, angular branching stems and wooly tender shoots, leaves deeply divided, lobes narrow, thick glabrous, or somewhat hairy, flowers monoecious yellow, both males and females solitary corolla pale yellow, fruit globose or oblong fleshy indehiscent berry 5 – 7.5 cm in diameter and variegated with green and white; seeds pale brown. Flowering and fruiting during August to December.
It is cultivated and wild, throughout India in warm areas.
Ayurvedic Properties and Uses:
Rasa : Tikta
Guna : Laghu, Ruksa, Tiksna
Virya : Usna
Vipaka : Katu
Karma : Krighna, Vamaka,
Visahara, Recana, Slesmahara
Modern Pharmacological Action:The plant showed antimicrobial activity, Antihistamitic effect
