Distribution:
Found throughout India, often under cultivation, up to an altitude of 1,500 m.

Habit:
M.c, is a monoecious climber. The stem is slender, more or less pubescent; the leaves are suborbicular, 5-7 lobed, hairy; the flowers are yellow and solitary; the fruits are pendulous, fusiform, beaked and ribbed with numerous tubercles; the seeds are brownish, compressed and embedded in red pulp.

Principle constituents:
Lectins, charantin and momordicine.

Indications:
The fruits have long been used in India as a folk remedy for diabetes mellitus. Lectins from bitter gourd have shown significant antilipolytic and lipogenic activities.

Product range:
Diabecon, Kilose