Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Plant in a Tub
No shower feels truly effective without a cleansing scrub with a well-lathered loofah. But did you know the poof of plastic mesh hanging in your bathroom is but a pale imitation of the genuine article?
The ubiquitous bath-time poof is actually a modern attempt to recreate a natural, plant-based scrubbing tool. The loofah, luffa, loofa, loaf, loofa, lufa or luf (there is still no consensus on its spelling) is a genus of plants in the same family as cucumbers. Two members of this genus, Luffa aegyptiaca and L. acutangula, are cultivated to produce loofah sponges. Both species are tropical, native to Africa and Asia.
While the term “sponge” implies an aquatic habitat, Luffa actually grow as annual climbing vines. As the vines snake and curl along trellises, they produce large yellow flowers. The female variety of these flowers (for they have both male and female flowers) develops into cylindrical fruits ~2-4 inches wide and ~5 inches long for L. aegyptiaca and ~28-30 inches long for L. acutangula.
When young and unripe, the fruits can be harvested and cooked. If you’ve ever had the impulse to consume a shower poof, you can try lots of recipes online for loofa stir fry. As the fruit matures, it becomes bitter and toxic. The endocarp of the fruit, the tissue that surrounds the seeds, lignifies, becoming woody and rigid. Once the mature fruits are dried and the skin removed, all that remains is a dense, network of tough fibers. These “sponges” are water-resistant, light and flexible but extremely tough and able able to resist high temperatures and extreme pHs. These properties have allowed the loofah to outperform several modern, synthetic materials.
For thousands of years, the loofah gourd has fulfilled many roles. It has scrubbed dirty dishes, automobiles, glassware and bodies clean. It has been used as insulation, stuffing for pillows, mattresses, and saddles, as well as padding for helmets and packaging material. It has been used to produce floor mats, hats, shoes, pot holders and gloves. Its ability to absorb heavy metals means it can be used to treat waste water. Before and during World War II, loofah sponges were used regularly as diesel engine oil filters. They have even been used by scientists as scaffolds to grow different kinds of cells.
And why stop at just the sponge? Extracts from loofah fruit and seeds contain several useful drugs capable of combating tumors, fungi and parasites.
In a modern world of convenient, plastic bath poofs, perhaps we come to expect less from our loofahs. What a pity when they are capable of so much more.
Brian Rutter, PhD, is the cofounder of Thing in a Pot Productions and a postdoctoral researcher in plant biology at Indiana University. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our “Things About Things – Odd Facts About Plants” and video production tips in your inbox every month!
Works Cited:
Azeez, M. A., Bello, O. S., & Adedeji, A. O. (2013). Traditional and medicinal uses of Luffa cylindrica: a review. J. Med. Plants, 1(5), 102-111.
Pauls, N. “History of the Luffa, Loofah, Loofa, Loufa, Loofa, Lufa, Luf Sponge.” luufagardens.com, 10 September 2018, https://luffagardens.com/blogs/all/history-of-the-luffa-loofah-loofa-loufa-loofa-lufa-luf-sponge.
Saeed, A., & Iqbal, M. (2013). Loofa (Luffa cylindrica) sponge: Review of development of the biomatrix as a tool for biotechnological applications. Biotechnology Progress, 29(3), 573-600.
Shen, Jianhu, et al. "Mechanical properties of luffa sponge." Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials 15 (2012): 141-152.