Loofah seeds or Luffa aegyptiaca

Loofah seeds or Luffa aegyptiaca

Pack of 20 seeds of scourer plant or Luffa aegyptiaca, for sowing. Fresh harvested this season.
The scourer is a multipurpose tropical plant, for household items, food, fodder, ornament and medicine. It is not surprising that it is found very frequently cultivated and as well as feral.

Widely distributed, escaped from cultivation and probably naturalized in the tropical states of Mexico. Fruits 10 to 30 by 4 to 7 cm, large, cylindrical, green with dark green bands and light green spots, turning brown, with dehiscence (opening) in a terminal pore, dry, with a fibrous interior; peduncle 2 to 15 cm long; seeds

gradually released with movement; numerous 8 to 12 by 6 to 10 mm long, oblong-ovate, compressed, smooth, diminutively tuberculate (thickened) with narrowly winged margin, dark brown to almost black.
The fibrous interior of the dried fruit is used for washing dishes or in place of a sponge during bathing.

The immature fruits are edible and are consumed frequently in Asia, and occasionally in Latin America. It is grown as an ornamental plant, has leaves used as forage and semi-drying oil can be extracted from the seeds.