Patola
Luffa acutangula · Angled luffa
- Names in the book
- English: Bath sponge; Tagalog: Patola; Ilocano: Kabatiti; Visayan: Tabobog, Sayuka, Patola
- Used for
- Hemorrhoids
- Colours
- floweryellowfruitgreen
- Native range
- South and Southeast Asia
- Family
- Cucurbitaceae
- Printed as
- Luffa acutangula Linn.
- Sources
- Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 120 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Luffa acutangula is a cucurbitaceous vine commercially grown for its unripe fruits as a vegetable. Mature fruits are used as natural cleaning sponges. Its fruit slightly resembles a cucumber or zucchini with ridges. It is native to South Asia and has been naturalised in other regions. It is also grown as a houseplant in places with colder climates. English common English names include angled luffa, Chinese okra, dish cloth gourd, ridged gourd, sponge gourd, vegetable gourd, strainer vine, ribbed loofah, silky gourd, and silk gourd.
Excerpt from “Luffa acutangula” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 56 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 8 provinces: Zamboanga del Norte (7), Agusan del Sur (2), Batangas (1), Cebu (1), Guimaras (1), Isabela (1), Leyte (1), Rizal (1).
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- HemorrhoidsLeaf decoction for a sitz bath.Boil about 20 washed, chopped leaves in 2 gallons of water for 10 minutes and strain. Sitz bath twice a day.Page 28
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Patola” on page 120. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Ameliorative effects of plant growth promoting bacteria, zinc oxide nanoparticles and oxalic acid on Luffa acutangula grown on arsenic enriched soil
- Establishment of virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system in Luffa acutangula using Phytoene desaturase (PDS) and tendril synthesis related gene (TEN)
- Metabolome and Transcriptome Analyses of Cucurbitacin Biosynthesis in Luffa (Luffa acutangula)