Luffa aegyptiaca - Lufa (loofah) - Spg - Seeds

Description

The loofah is cultivated mainly as a sponge, but the green fruit are also edible and are reminiscent of zucchini. The plant is an annual and with climbing support can reach 15m in height. The male and female yellow flowers appear throughout the growing season and are often visited by bumblebees. The production of sponge is simple if the fruit is ripe the outer skin can be easily separated from the sponge and cleaned well and then dried in the sun. The sponges found in the market are often chemically bleached. Often our friends and neighbors were surprised commenting "we believed it was a sea sponge .."