Luffa (Luffa aegyptiaca and the ridged Luffa acutangula), also called sponge gourd, ridge gourd, loofah, Chinese okra or in India turai and tori, is the elongated fruit of a tropical climbing vine eaten as a vegetable while young and tender. Picked immature it is mild, soft and faintly sweet like a cross between zucchini and cucumber; left to ripen it dries on the vine into the fibrous skeleton sold worldwide as a bath and cleaning sponge.