Trichosanthes dioica Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. 1832 3: 701 1832. ;
 
Sans: putulika; Hindi, Punjabi: parwal; Beng: potol; Guj. & Oryia: patal; Tel: kommupotla; Tam: kombu-pudalai; Kan: kaadu-padavala; Ma: patolam; “POTOL” in Bengali;   
 


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Trichosanthes dioica From Jattal Panipat: Trichosanthes dioica From Jattal Panipat Photo On 29-4-10
A cucurbitaceae vine 

Great Catch , We call this plant “POTOL” in bengali . 


You are tempting me to give names in other languages. Sans: putulika; Hindi, Punjabi: parwal; Beng: potol; Guj. & Oryia: patal; Tel: kommupotla; Tam: kombu-pudalai; Kan: kaadu-padavala; Ma: patolam 


The roots of T dioica are extremely poisonous but the shoot portion has medicinal properties as well as taken as a leafy vegetable in Bengal but it’s bitter to taste we call it “Palta“. 


Is this the edible Parwal(पडवळ ) or wild ? 


The wild growing species is edible (fruits as well as leaves), and sometimes also grown to limited extent. 


More Pics from same area 


Fruits from ITI Ganour Campus sonipat 


 

 
Cucurbitaceae Week: Trichosanthes dioica from Panipat: This one is Trichosanthes dioica Roxb. shot from Panipat. Ihope the id is right, sorry for only 2 pics…


 

Cucurbitaceae Week: Arunachal Cucurbit_RKC06_05042012:  Cucurbit for ID pl.

Loc.: Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh (ca 550m)
Date: June, 2009


 

 

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A complete and beautiful package…


 

 

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Flower ID request – SJha-30Sep12:

I found these creeper flowers growing quite profusely in Surajpur, Uttar Pradesh, where I went for bird-watching yesterday.
Would appreciate ID help.


I think this is Trichosanthes cucumerina . Snake gourd. Family: Cucurbitaceae


It may be Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.


Thank you, … It is indeed Trichosanthes dioica Roxb – the parwal/potol plant.


…, please let us know the posted plant is cultivated.
And whether Trichosanthes cucumerina is also distributed in your region.
Wanting to know any easy difference(s) between the two species.


Yes, it is very much cultivated, … It is a favourite vegetable in eastern India – almost a daily diet for Assamese, Eastern UP, and Bengalis during the summer months. In fact, I was surprised to see it growing uncultivated.
I googled for images of Trichosanthes cucumerina – to my mind, they are essentially the same; the only difference I see is the size/shape. This is the one Bengalis call the ‘desi’ variety. The cultivated ones are one-third larger and slimmer and they are usually a brighter green (though part of that I believe is because they colour them). I am afraid I am not botanically enlightened to be able to tell you of any other real difference.
 

 

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Trichosanthes dioica Roxb. from Hooghly: The Plant List is amazing! One of the most popular veg. in West Bengal is PATOL, yet The Plant List reckons it as an unresolved name – http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2433209 !!! Why? Is it because there is another T. dioicahttp://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2433208, and that too unresolved? 

Well, whatever the Latin name of this plant is it is PATOL for sure. You can eat it fried, make curry with potato – ALU-PATOL, prepare delicious PATOLER DOLMA. And if your are invited to any Bengali marriage ceremony the menu certainly will start with LUCHI (PURI) and PATOL-BHAJA. You can take breakfast with POLTA and MURI, POLTA is bitter tasted leaves of this plant fried with BESAN as TELEBHAJA !!!
According to The Bengal Plants, Prain, p 517, :-
Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.; F.I. iii. 701; F. B. I. ii. 609; E.D.T. 586.
In all the provinces.
A rather extensive climber. Hind. PALWAL; Beng. PATOL; Uriya PATAL.
The photos were recorded yesterday, a cultivated species in Hooghly.


Perhaps it is better to ignore The Plant List totally for unresolved names (as I have mentioned many times that it is their misfortune if they are not able to understand a particular taxon). Even for plants which they claim to have resolved, many of their conclusions or just laughable. In some cases they list a name (combination) as accepted name but don’t list basionym as synonym. Many names are totally missing from the The Plant List. In other cases some species are shown in one genus others in different one. Perhaps I am tired of pointing out to them, so I simply ignore.  
Trichosanthes dioica Roxb. is well established name:
It is better to compare GRIN and Flora of China entries with the Plant List and if there is any conflict better follow the former.


  
 
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