This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. In everyday non-technical usage, the luffa, also spelled loofah, usually refers to the fruits of the species Luffa aegyptiaca and Luffa chinese cucumber. It is cultivated and eaten as a vegetable, but must be harvested at a young stage of development to be edible.

In North America it is sometimes known as “Chinese okra”, and in Spanish as estropajo. If the loofah is allowed to fully ripen and then dried on the vine, the flesh disappears, leaving only the fibrous skeleton and seeds, which can be easily shaken out. In Paraguay, panels are made out of luffa combined with other vegetable matter and recycled plastic. These can be used to create furniture and construct houses.

This section does not cite any sources. In eastern-UP it is also called nenua. Torai is reserved for ridge gourd and is less popular than gilki in central western India. In Bhojpuri speaking regions it is called ghiura. Apart from fruit of the vegetable, flowers are also used as vegetable as chokha, tarua, pakoda, etc.