i need all possible info about ridge gourd,sponge gourd and ash gourd?

Question

its description, cultivation, varities, uses

Answer 1

The luffas (from Arabic لوف; also spelled loofah or loofa) are tropical and subtropical annual vines comprising the genus Luffa. The fruit of at least two species, L. acutangula and L. aegyptiaca, is grown to be harvested before maturity and eaten as a vegetable, sometimes called Chinese okra, popular in Asia and Africa. L. acutangula is also known as Ridge Gourd and is called jaati lau in Assamese, si1gua1 in Mandarin Chinese, jhingey in Bengali, turai in Hindi, heeray kAyi in Kannada, wetakolu in Sinhala, patola in Tagalog, and kabatiti in Ilocano, gambas or oyong in Indonesia. The fruit of L. aegyptiaca may also be allowed to mature and used as a bath or kitchen sponge after being processed to remove everything but the network of xylem. This version is called dhundul in Bengali, ghiya tori or nerua in Hindi or "peerkankai" in Tamil or "beera kaya" in Telugu

Luffa species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Hypercompe albicornis.


Luffa acutangula= Ridge gourd or Sponge gourd.




Click the linkbelow for more information-:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridge_gourd



The winter melon (Chinese: 冬瓜; pinyin: dōngguā, and पेठा in Hindi, or Kumbalanga in Malayalam, Upo in Tagalog), also called white gourd or ash gourd, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable. The fruit is fuzzy when young, giving rise to the name fuzzy melon (Chinese: 毛瓜; pinyin: máoguā). By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd, and providing a long shelf life. The melon may grow as large as 1-2 metres in length. The word "melon" in the name is somewhat misleading, as the fruit is not sweet.

Originally domesticated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well. In North India it is cut into rectangular pieces and boiled in a sugar syrup to create a translucent, almost clear candy or sweet, and is often flavored with rose water. In this form it keeps and cans well allowing it to be sold in canned form around the world. In South India it is used to make curries.

The winter melon requires very warm weather to grow but can be kept through the winter much like winter squash. The winter melon can typically be stored for 12 months. The melons are used in stir fry or to make winter melon soup, which is often served in the scooped out melon, which has been intricately decorated by scraping off the waxy coating.

Occasionally, it's used to produce a fruit drink which has a very unusual taste, somewhat similar to graham crackers in milk. It is usually sweetened with caramelised sugar, which enhances the taste.

The shoots, tendrils, and leaves of the plant may also be eaten as greens.

Benicasa hispida= Ash gourd

click the link below for more information on Ash gourd.--:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_gourd

Answer 2

my answer is for you to google all your gourd varieties and start perusing the web sites.

Answer 3

http://www.seedsofindia.com/ed_gourds.htm
From this site you can get some information.but if you want more elaborate description i think you have to google some more.
hope this will help