Snake Gourd(চিচিঙ্গা ফুল) - Trichosanthes cucumerina

Bengali Name :	Chichinga ful, চিচিঙ্গা ফুল
Common Name :	Snake Gourd
Botanical Name :	Trichosanthes cucumerina
Family :	Cucurbitaceae(pumpkin cherry family)

This is an interesting vegetable flower from the Cucurbitaceae plant family. Botanical name of this flower is Trichosanthes cucumerina. Common name is Snake Gourd. In Bangladesh we call this Chichinga(চিচিঙ্গা).

Flowers of this plant are delicately beautify. Very small flowers are milky white in color and having exactly five petals. Petals are having lot of silky laces beside it. Those lacy things just increased the beauty of the flower more.

It is a vine plant that is raised for it's fruit. Fruits are long slender and having white stripes, Seems like a snake and thus it got it's name. A fruit can be around 150 cm long.

Snake Gourd is widely available at our country Bangladesh. We cultivate this commercially as well as a yard plant beside village house. It is a popular vegetable that is being used in lot of recipes. My mom use to fry this, and also use it in curries with small fishes.

Photos of this article were taken from Pabna(পাবনা). It was a tour of September 2012.