Congratulations C-da!
Umesh
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Raiz:
I am a part-time khetiyok ( gardener), among other things :-).
I am pleased to announce that I created a hybrid tita kerela, by
cross breeding a variety of semi-wild kerela that I collected seeds
of from a vine from the highlands of Jamaica in 2003 with the long
Assamese variety. This Jamaican variety kerela ( momordica--bitter
gourd) fruit is really tiny, about 1" in diameter and about 2" to
2.5" long, with dainty ( about 3" diameter) leaves. The fruits are so
small that they are not useful for eating. The seeds are black,
about 1/4" long X 1/8" wide. I was told by someone that it is seen in
Florida also, growing wild.
Just out of curiosity, I pollinated an Assamese kerela female flower
with a male Jamaican pollen, and vice versa. One did not work, but
the other did; except I was not careful about recordi! ng which hybrid
fruited, and don't know the exact mix.
Anyway, I grew a new hybrid plant this spring from the harvested
seeds. At first, the resulting plant did not indicate any conspicuous
characteristic. But soon I began to notice that it is an amazingly
prolific plant, growing like crazy. You can almost see it growing
:-). Soon a very robust and wildly growing vine took over the trellis
and spread all over nearby ground, tomato plants and and overhead
trellis that I built for 'laos' ( gourds) producing lots and lots of
mid-sized ( 1.5" dia X 3" to 4" long), pale green ( more white than
green) hybrid fruits. In fact we have so many fruits, I stopped
picking them, and they are ripening and cracking up like blood red
flowers with yellow petals.
The taste is not extremely bitter, like some of our Assamese little
kerela varieties. You can say it is of medium bitterness.
My guess is that it MIGHT become a good garden ! vegetable for amateur
urban gardeners as well as rural khetiyoks in Assam, because the
plant is so robust and prolific. It can also become a beautiful
screening/landscaping plant at verandas as well as against ugly ,
blank compound walls, because it grows so fast. The flowers are
mildly fragrant,like all kerela plants. But since there are so many
flowers, the pleasant aroma could be smelled from a slight distance.
That makes me think, it could be a fine urban landscape plant in warm
humid areas.
If anyone wants seeds to try let me know. I will be pleased to share some.
Iti bineet,
sondon kerela-seed mohonto :-)
( With apologies to Johnny Appleseed)
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