Tendrils simple, slender, pubescent. Male flowers solitary,yellow.
Female flowers bracteate at base, ovary fusiform, muricate.
Seeds sculptured on surfaces, compressed. Momordica charantia yielded a non-nitrogenous neutral principle charantin, which gave a positive colour test for phytosterolins, and on hydrolysis yielded glucose and a sterol. Galactouronic acid was also obtained from the pulp. The ether extract residue of the alcoholic concentrate from the leaves of M. charantia was reported to reveal hypoglycaemic activity comparable to that of tolbutamide. The pure protein termed as P-insulin extracted from M. charantia fruits in crystalline form was tested, in a controlled clinical trial,for its efficacy as a hypoglycaemic agent in 9 patients of primary diabetes mellitus.