546. Luffa.—Vegetable sponge. Wash-rag sponge. Gourd towel.

546. LUFFA.—VEGETABLE SPONGE. WASH-RAG SPONGE. GOURD TOWEL. The gourd-like fruit of Luf'fa aegyp'tiaca, a vine growing in Arabia and Egypt. The layer of tissue next the epidermis is composed of interwoven woody fibers, and, when deprived of the epidermis, makes a good substitute for sponge. The fruit of Luffa echinata, growing in India, contains a principle related to, if not identical with, colocynthitin.

A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.