The World of Apples

The apples that aren't

Balsam apple

Momordica balsamina, Cucurbitaceae

The balsam apple is a perennial climber of woodland, wooded grassland and riverside thickets, often on sandy soils, with stems up to 2.7 m long, simple tendrils and deeply lobed leaves; its flowers are pale yellow, cream or white, darker at the base and often veined with green3. The fruit is ovoid, warty and beaked, 2.5 to 6.5 cm long, and orange-red to red when ripe3. In southern Africa it goes by the name balsam apple4.

Kew gives its native range as tropical and southern Africa, the south-west of the Arabian peninsula and Australia2. The Flora of Zimbabwe finds it widespread in tropical Africa, particularly near the coast, and also in India, and thinks it probably introduced in the American tropics3.

Its epithet, balsamina, means balsam-scented3. English gives the name balsam apple to several other plants as well: its relative Momordica charantia, the bitter melon; the wild cucumber of North America, Echinocystis lobata; gourds of the genus Echinopepon; and two American trees, Clusia major and Clusia rosea5.

Sources

  1. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Momordica balsamina, Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Supports: the accepted name and family.
  2. Plants of the World Online: Momordica balsamina, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: the accepted name and the native range, "Trop. & S. Africa, SW. Arabian Pen., Australia".
  3. Species information: Momordica balsamina, Flora of Zimbabwe. Supports: a perennial climber, its stems, tendrils, leaves and flowers; the fruit, ovoid, warty, beaked, 2.5 to 6.5 cm long and orange-red to red; balsamina meaning balsam-scented; the habitat; widespread in tropical Africa, also in Arabia, India and Australia, probably introduced in the Neotropics.
  4. Momordica balsamina (Balsam apple), Biodiversity Explorer, Iziko Museums of South Africa. Supports: balsam apple as its name in southern Africa.
  5. balsam apple, Wiktionary. Supports: balsam apple also used for Momordica charantia, Echinocystis lobata, Echinopepon and the trees Clusia major and Clusia rosea.