About Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim.
Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim. is a flowering plant belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, and it is found particularly in the Chinese provinces of Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. It is counted among the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it shares the Chinese name guālóu (栝蔞) with the related species Trichosanthes rosthornii. In English, this plant is commonly called "Chinese cucumber" and "Chinese snake gourd".
In traditional Chinese medicine, the tuber of this plant is called tiān huā fěn (天花粉) in Mandarin. Traditional practice claims that this tuber drains heat, generates bodily fluids, clears and drains lung heat, transforms phlegm, moistens lung dryness, resolves toxicity, and expels pus. The fruit of the plant, which is also called guālóu (瓜蔞) in Mandarin, is said to clear heat, transform phlegm-heat, unbind the chest, reduce abscesses, and dissipate nodules. Both the tuber and the fruit should only be considered safe for use under the professional guidance of a person trained in working with these plant parts, although this precaution may be an unnecessary extrapolation from the known toxicity of purified trichosanthin, a compound from the plant. In vitro studies have shown that extracts from Trichosanthes kirilowii damage the protein coat surrounding the RNA of the AIDS virus.
