Where does loofah mainly originate?

Luffa originated in tropical Asia and distributed in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Oceania, Africa and America (China Agricultural Encyclopedia Vegetable Volume, 1990). According to the Ming Dynasty Compendium of Materia Medica (1578), it was cultivated in India before 2000. Domestic scholars believe that China Luffa was introduced from India. There is no record of loofah in the literature before Tang Dynasty. Song people Du Beishan and Zhao Meiying began to sing loofah poems. Du Beishan's Ode to Loofah said, "The solitary hedge households enter the spring, but when they don't see the mountains, they will be bright." In a few days, the rain will be fine and the grass will grow in autumn, and the loofah will be born along the tile wall. " Gewen's Notes on Parting Families was written in Shaoxing in the Song Dynasty (1131-kloc-0/162), and an artistic article, The Method of Growing Vegetables, said, "It is better to grow social loofah." It can be seen that loofah was not "unknown before Tang and Song Dynasties" as Li Shizhen, a scholar in Ming Dynasty, but was introduced to China in Song Dynasty. Since the Ming Dynasty, loofah has spread rapidly. Materia Medica for Famine Relief in Ming Dynasty (1408-1411) first expounded the forms and uses of loofah, and Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica in16th century (Shu Yinglan,1999)

Luffa production in China is mainly concentrated in the central and southern regions, such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces (regions), and most of the germplasm resources are also distributed in these regions. The varieties used in South China are mainly rib loofah, while ordinary loofah is the main variety in other areas. In recent years, the production of loofah has been gradually promoted from south to north, and anti-season cultivation (winter and spring solar greenhouse and early spring greenhouse) has also been developed in Huanghuai area, such as solar greenhouse production in Shandong Province and early spring greenhouse production in Jiangyan and Baoying in Jiangsu Province. Planting has also begun in the northern region. Because Luffa is a short-day crop, and Ribbed Luffa is more sensitive to the length of sunshine than ordinary Luffa, most of the varieties cultivated in northern China are ordinary Luffa introduced from the south. In addition, due to the change of production scale and mode of loofah, the distribution of varieties has also made new progress. Some excellent varieties selected from local varieties through directional cultivation of purification and rejuvenation, such as Luffa Wu Ye, Changsha Fleshy Melon, Xiatang 1, and excellent first-generation hybrids such as Jiangshu 1, Zaoza 1, Jiangshu Fleshy, Kang Feng, etc. , have been bred.