Someone around Reedley, California is growing luffa.<<<
It is a lovely plant, when the pods are young, it is eaten and called Chinese Okra.
Yes, mature pods last for years, I have one or two around here that are 20 or 30 years old.....they make a good dish scrubber, etc, if you grow them and have plenty.
By now you must know, I like almost all plants and if they have healing or food value, LOL, then I love them.
Of course, beauty gets loved too.
When I grew orchids, I always wanted to take an assortment of the flowers to a blind school, so they could ‘know’ them.
Now I almost never hear the word ‘orchid’.
I found a website while looking for pictures: