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Cucurbitaceae family

Sinkwa Towelsponge Luffa acutangula

Sinkwa Towelsponge is an introduced annual vine, found in the lower 48 states, the Pacific Basin, and Puerto Rico.

⚠ Invasive here — plant a native instead USDA + GBIF

Sinkwa Towelsponge is flagged invasive in the U.S. These natives fill a similar niche — same growth habit, bloom season, height, and region — so you keep the look and feed local wildlife instead of spreading a problem.

Whiteedge Morning-glory

Phaseolus polystachios

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Matched on growth habit · bloom months · mature height · shared U.S. range (USDA + GBIF) — a starting point, not a prescription.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY

Conditions

Sources · Conditions

Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness

Hardiness: ≥ zone 8 derived from its U.S. range

Size & form

Sources · Size & form

USDA PLANTS — Lifespan

TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Foliage

Lifespan: Annual
Foliage: Broadleaf

In the garden

Vine / climber layer — Sits in the vine of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →

derived roles

Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →

✦ Bees 1 bee visitor

1 native & managed bee species is documented visiting Sinkwa Towelsponge :

Hylaeus oromialis · masked bee

Visitor records (observations, not exhaustive) from Noori et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0) · GloBI →

Sources for this entry (16) Open & cited

[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)

[05] Invasive / introduced status — US-RIIS v2.0 (USGS)

[06] Photos — iNaturalist — CC, credited per image

[07] Ecological value — GloBI

[08] Foliage — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[09] Functional traits — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[10] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones

[11] Mycorrhiza — FungalRoot v2.0 · Meng et al. 2024 (Dryad, CC0)

[12] Chromosomes — ChromoDB — IAPT/IOPB chromosome data series (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0)

[13] Human uses — Dr. Duke's Phytochemical & Ethnobotanical Databases (USDA, CC0)

[14] Bee visitors — Noori et al. 2026 (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0) · via GloBI

[15] Flower-visitor value (derived) — Noori et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0) · GloBI

[16] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county

Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.

Cite this page Open data, please attribute

PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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Ecological value open data

1 / 5 Keystone

Keystone (host) value — caterpillar, specialist-bee & monarch hosting. A low number means “not a keystone host,” not “low value”: generalist flower-visitor value is shown separately below and in Bees & wildlife.

Caterpillar host 2

Flower-visitor value derived 1

Recorded flower-visitor breadth — observations, not a nectar measurement. open data

⚠ invasive (US) — avoid

Deep dive

Caterpillar host · 2/5 — native butterfly & moth caterpillars that feed on this genus — the base of the food web (more caterpillars → more songbirds). Genus-level keystone count from Warren II 2026 (CC0; Tallamy host-use records), gap-filled by our GloBI derivation.

Counts are genus-level and banded 0–5. Full rubric →

Host / keystone value from open interaction data. How this is scored →

📍 In your area live

Invasive in the U.S.

Recorded in 3 states.

Open occurrence records place it in 4 counties across 4 states · GBIF (CC0/CC-BY)

Introduced — Conterminous United States, Pacific Basin (excl. Hawaii), and Puerto Rico

Recorded in 3 states/territories

Conservation

Invasive? Yes — invasive

Toxicity & pet safety

Check the ASPCA pet database →

Educational, not veterinary advice. If you suspect your pet ate this plant, contact a vet or pet poison-control line.

Documented human uses Dr. Duke's

51 use-records

Historically recorded for

PurgativeDiureticEmeticLeprosyPilesSplenitisAmenorrheaConjunctivitisSoreUremiaAdenopathyAnodyneAsthmaConvulsionDemulcentDropsy +16 more

A historical record of how this plant has been used — not medical or dietary advice, and not a claim that it is effective or safe. Many plants are toxic; never ingest or treat with a wild plant without expert guidance and a confirmed identification. Dr. Duke's →

Functional traits TRY · Dryad

Seed mass large

112 mg

large seed — easy to hand-collect & direct-sow; vigorous seedlings

Mycorrhiza obligate

Arbuscular (AM)

partners with arbuscular fungi — the commonest symbiosis; helps reach phosphorus & water, aiding drought resilience

Chromosomes recorded

2n = 26

somatic chromosome number

Deep dive — what these mean

Seed mass 112 mg — average weight of one seed. Bigger seeds are easier to hand-collect & direct-sow; dust-fine seeds need surface-sowing.

Mycorrhiza AM — the root–fungus partnership it forms (AM = most plants; ECM = most forest trees; ERM = heaths; NM = none). Trades sugars for water & nutrients via shared soil networks.

Measured traits from TRY + Werner et al. (N-fix), Fan et al. (roots) & FungalRoot — general guidance, not species-specific prescriptions.

More modules coming

Sinkwa Towelsponge Luffa acutangula

Growing & care

Wildlife & pollinators

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