The caigua (pronounced kai-wa) is a vine grown for its small fruit, used as a vegetable. It is also known as caygua, caihua, cayua, achocha, achokcha, slipper gourd, lady's slipper, sparrow gourd (Chinese: 小雀瓜; Hanyu Pinyin: xiǎoquè guā), stuffing cucumber, or korila. Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Orders see text Dicotyledons or dicots are flowering plants whose seed contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. ... Families Cucurbitaceae (gourd family) Begoniaceae (begonia family) Datiscaceae Tetramelaceae Corynocarpaceae Coriariaceae Anisophylleaceae The Cucurbitales are an order of flowering plants, included in the rosid group of dicotyledons. ... Genera Abobra Acanthosicyos Actinostemma Alsomitra Ampelosycios Anacaona Apatzingania Apodanthera Bambekea Benincasa Biswarea Bolbostemma Brandegea Bryonia Calycophysum Cayaponia Cephalopentandra Ceratosanthes Chalema Cionosicyos Citrullus Coccinia Cogniauxia Corallocarpus Cremastopus Ctenolepis Cucumella Cucumeropsis Cucumis Cucurbita Cucurbitella Cyclanthera Dactyliandra Dendrosicyos Dicoelospermum Dieterlea Diplocyclos Doyerea Ecballium Echinocystis Echinopepon Edgaria Elateriopsis Eureiandra Fevillea Gerrardanthus Gomphogyne Gurania Guraniopsis... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné â–¶(?), and in English usually under the Latinized name Carolus Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of taxonomy. ... In scientific classification, synonymy is the existence of multiple systematic names to label the same organism. ... The term vine was originally a term for the plant on which grapes grew, from the word for wine (Greek oinos), for which grapes were grown. ... Fruit stall in Barcelona, Catalonia. ... Vegetables in a market Vegetable is a culinary term denoting any part of a plant that is commonly consumed by humans as food, but is not regarded as a culinary grain, fruit, nut, herb, or spice. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration to roman script) for Standard Mandarin used in the...

Extracts from the fruit may have medicinal value.

Origin and distribution

Likely domesticated in the Andes, the caigua is now grown many parts of Central America and South America, as well as parts of the Eastern Hemisphere tropics. The Andes between Chile and Argentina Satellite Image of the Andes (Source:http://earthobservatory. ... Commonly, Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Ä…Link title // Headline text Headline text Headline text Headline text Headline text Media:Example. ...

Food uses

The immature fruits may be eaten raw or pickled. Unlike many cucurbitaceous fruits, the caigua become quite hollow as it matures, and the mature fruit is often eaten stuffed. The young shoots and leaves may also be eaten as greens. In botany, a shoot is more or less synonamous with the term stem For biological and botanical definitions and information, see the main article on stems Shoots function in providing an axis for buds, fruits and leaves. ... In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ... Leaf vegetables, also called greens or leafy greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. ...

External links

• Multilingual taxonomic information from the University of Melbourne
• Photo at Solana Seeds
• Photos from the Ukraine