**Food Uses**:
– Luffa is a popular food item prepared in various ways like soups and stir-frys.
– Known by different names in Indian cuisine such as torai, gilki, and ghiura.
– Used in dishes in Nepal, Bengali-speaking regions, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Assam.
**Other Uses**:
– Grown in Japan for use as a sponge or for applying soap, shampoo, and lotion.
– Used as a natural sunscreen when grown outside building windows.
– Known as Chinese okra in Canada and the U.S.
**Role in Ecosystem**:
– Luffa species are food plants for larvae of some Lepidoptera species.
– Larvae of Hypercompe albicornis and Zeugodacus tau feed on luffa species.
**Mechanical Properties**:
– Luffa sponges have exceptional mechanical properties at low densities.
– Complex network of fiber bundles forming a highly-porous structure.
– Hierarchical structure results in varied mechanical properties.
– Fiber bundles isolated from the inner surface vary in diameter and show linear elastic stress-strain response.
– Block samples from core and hoop regions exhibit different mechanical behaviors under compression.
**Dynamic Loading and Research**:
– Luffa sponge properties change with different strain rates.
– Energy absorption, compressive stress, and plateau stress increase with higher strain rates.
– Fibers deform more axially under dynamic loading compared to quasi-static loading.
– Studies and research on genetic diversity, biomechanical analysis, and behavior of Luffa sponge material under dynamic loading.