A pumpkin and a pumpkin

a twinning for many others

This article is about an African plant, known as the Ugu, among other names. For other uses, see Ugu (disambiguation).


Telfairia occidentalis 

Telfairia occidentalis is a tropical vine grown in West Africa as a leaf vegetable and for its edible seeds. Common names for the plant include Fluted gourd, Fluted pumpkin, and Ugu.
The plant is a drought-tolerant, dioecious perennial that is usually grown trellised. The young shoots and leaves of the female plant are the main ingredients of a Nigerian soup, edikang ikong. The large (up to 5 cm), dark-red seed is rich in fat and protein, and can be eaten whole, ground into powder for another kind of soup, or made into a fermented porridge. The fruit of the plant is large, weighing up to 13 kg, but inedible.


Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Telfairia
Species: T. occidentalis