Trichosanthes cucumerina is a tropical or subtropical
vine, its variety
T. cucumerina var.
anguina raised for its strikingly long
fruit, in Asia eaten immature as a
vegetable much like the summer squash, and in Africa, the reddish pulp of its mature fruit is used as an economical substitute of tomato. Common names of the cultivated variety include
snake gourd,
serpent gourd,
chichinda, and
padwal (not to be confused with
Trichosanthes dioica, the parwal, another gourd edible when immature).