medicinal melon

Description:

A sturdy vine with ovate leaves and melon-like smooth spherical fruits about 50 mm diameter.

Habitat:

Western Ghats - Hills about 2,700 mts in South India.

Notes:

Saw this vine growing wild in a marginally wooded area. Locals eat the fruit for its medicinal properties. Could not get a name that would match a scientific description. The plant looked like it belonged to the cucurbitaceae family but the leaves were not the typical 5-lobed palmate type.