ABSTRACT

This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Fluted Pumpkin. Seeds are boiled and eaten or put in soups, or used as the source of a nondrying oil for native cookery and soap-making. Seeds of Telfairia occidentalis contain fairly large amounts of alpha-eleostearic and no linolenic glycerides, while the seed fat of Telfairia pedata derives from the usual mixture of saturated, oleic, linoleic, and linoleic acids. Cultivated in some places, South Nigeria and by some tribes in Ghana. Reported from the African Center of Diversity, the fluted pumpkin, or cvs thereof, is reported to tolerate drought, low pH, poor soil, and shade. The true oyster nut has purplish-pink flowers, whereas the fluted pumpkin has white flowers with a purplish eye. Propagated by seeds either planted near trees upon which to climb, or more often allowed to sprawl over the ground, as is done in Nigeria.