Gen info
- Zehneria is a genus of flowering plants/vines in the cucumber and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, which contains about 35 species.
- The name honors botanical artist Joseph Zehner. (11)

Botany
Melon-daga is a slender vine 1 to 2 meters long, with simple tendrils. Leaves are rough, triangular-ovate, 3 to 8 centimeters long, pointed at the tip, and heart-shaped at the base; the margins are subentire, irregularly toothed, or even slightly lobed. Flowers are somewhat straw-colored, solitary or few in each axil of the leaves, about 5 millimeters long, and borne on slender pedicels 1 to 2.5 centimeters long. Male and female flowers are often in the same axil. Fruit is ovoid or ellipsoid, pointed and about 2 centimeters long.

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines.
- Along streams, old clearings, etc., at low and medium altitudes in the Batan Islands; Ifugao, Lepanto, and Benguet Subprovince; Bataan, Rizal, Laguna and Sorsogon Provinces in Luzon; and in Polillo, and Mindanao.
- Also native to Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, China, Himalaya, India, Japan, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam. (5)

Constituents
- Study purified an endopeptidase from the fruits of Melothria japonica. Angiotensin I was cleaved within 30 minutes suggesting it was a serine oligopeptidase of broad substrate specificity. (6)
- Phytochemical screening through TLC yielded alkaloids anthrones, flavonoids, and sterols. (see study below) (12)

Properties
- Considered purgative.
- Studies have shown anticancer, immunomodulatory, cytotoxic, angiosuppressive properties.

Parts used
Leaves, fruit.

Uses
Folkloric
- Juice of leaves used to cure aphtha in children; also used for opacities of the cornea.
- Fruit is used as purgative.
- In the Moluccas juice of leaves applied to sore places affected by thrush; used for eye affections.
- In India, whole plant used in the treatment of hydrocoele. (6)
- In China, decoction or ground parts taken for urinary tract infection, tonsillitis, conjunctivitis, carbuncles. (7)
- In Bandaran, Bangladesh, poultice of paste of roots applied to enlarged testis. (9)
- In the Moluccas, used as traditional treatment for thrush in children. Used to clear corneal opacities. In Vietnam, used to suppress inflammation and swellings, and as diuretic. Roots used as vermifuge and depurative. Plant applied externally to burns, eczema, and furuncles. In China, plant decoction taken as a cooling drink and to relieve inflammation, treat dysentery, urinary gravel, and skin diseases. (10)

Studies
• Apoptosis Induction / Cancer Cells: Invention describes a method of inducing apoptosis in cancer cells by administration of Melothria indica to cancer cells - leukemia cells or prostate cancer cells. (1)
• Inhibition of TNF-α release: An extract from Melothria indica plant showed an effect on inhibiting the release of cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor alpha, by immune response cells, such as macrophages.  (2)
• Herbal Ointment formulation for Treatment of Alopecia Areata / Invention: The invention derives from traditional Chinese medicinal preparations, in particular an ointment for treating alopecia areata. The ointment consists of 10-12 parts zehneria, along with parts of akebia fruit, leaf of common aeschynomene, sessile alternanthera, kazinoki paper mulberry and wight parnassia. (8)
• Cytotoxic / Angiosuppressive / Leaves: Study evaluated the potential cytotoxic and angiosuppressive properties of Zehneria japonica leaf extracts. Analysis with AngioQuant showed treatment of duck egg CAM with Z. japonica semi-crude extracts suppressed angiogenesis with ICs of 1,810 µg/mL, 192.50 µg/mL, and 147 µg/mL for hexane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol extracts, respectively. Results showed crude leaf extracts exhibited angiosuppressive activity through CAM assay. In MTT assay, extracts exhibited strong cytotoxicity in U2Os (osteosarcoma) cells with IC50 ≤20 µg/mL, no cytotoxicity effect in HepG2 cells with IC50 >100 µg/mL, mild cytotoxic effect in HUVEC (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) with IC50 40-60 µg/mL. Phytochemical screening through TLC yielded alkaloids anthrones, flavonoids, and sterols. (12)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Method of inducing apoptosis in cancer cells using an extract of Melothria indica Lou / Tsai, David / 06-Nov-2001
(2)
Plant extract that inhibits the release of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) / Tsai. David / May 10, 2002 / FreePatentsOnLine
(3)
Zehneria indica (Lour.) Keraudren / Catalogue of Life, China
(4)
Sorting Zehneria names / Maintained by: Michel H. Porcher, / MULTILINGUAL MULTISCRIPT PLANT NAME DATABASE
(5)
Zehneria japonica / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(6)
Medicinal plants used by tribals in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, India / Debadin Bose, Joydeep Ghosh Roy, Surabhi Das Mahapatra (Sarkar), Tanmoy Datta, Subhendu Das Mahapatra & Hiranmoy Biswas / Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies 2015; 3(3): 15-21
(6)
A serine endopeptidase from the fruits of Melothria japonica (Thunb.) maxim. / Uchikoba T, Hosoyamada S, Onjyo M, Arima K, Yonezawa H, Kaneda M / Phytochemistry [2001, 57(1):1-5] / DOI: 10.1016/S0031-9422(00)00511-2
(7)
Ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants used by Maonan people in China / Hong et al. / JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE, 2015; 11:32 / DOI 10.1186/s13002-015-0019-1
(8)
Ointment for treating alopecia areata and application thereof  / CN Application: CN104815004A
(9)
ETHNO-MEDICO BOTANICAL STUDY AMONG THE FOUR INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES OF BANDARBAN, BANGLADESH / MOHAMMED MOHIUDDIN, MD. KHAIRUL ALAM, SUKLA RANI BASAK AND M. KAMAL HOSSAIN / Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. , June 2012; 19(1): pp 45-53
(10)
Zehneria indica / Medicinal and Poisonous Plants / Editors: Lemmens and Bunyapraphatsara / PROSES: Plant Resources of South-East Asia
(11)
Zehneria / Wikipedia
(12)
Cytotoxic and Angiosuppressive Potentials of Zehneria japonica (Thunb. ex Murray) S.K.Chen (Cucurbitaceae) Crude Leaf Extracts / Marri Jmelou Roldan, Ting-Yu Chin, Yun-Chieh Tsai, Agnes L Castillo, Oliver B Villaflores / Philippines Journal of Health, Research, and Development, 2018; 22(1): pp 43-52

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