477 
MftGw.Ck Masc. Cal. 5-dentatus. Cor. 5-partita. Fllamenta 3. 
Fem. Cal. 5-dentatus. Cor. 5-partita. Pift. 3-fidum. 
Pomi femina arguta. 
Sj>. Cb. C. foliis multifidis, pomis globofis glabra; 
THE root is annual; wEIb, divided into long branclies, which ftrike 
deeply into the ground : the ft ems trail, like thofe of the garden cucum- 
ber, a coniiderable length, and are befet with rough hairs : the leaves 
are of a. triangular fhape, obtufe, varioufly fmuated, hairy, on the 
upper furface of a fine green, beneath rough, and whitifti : the 
flowers are yellow, folitary, and- appear at the axillae of the leaves : 
\jx of the male flowers is bell-fhaped, and divided at the brim 
five tapering fegments : the corolla is monopetalous, bell-fhaped 
and divided at the limb into five pointed fegments : the filaments 
three, two of which are bifid at the apex ; they are all very fhort, 
and inferted into the calyx : the antherse are linear, long, erect, and' 
adhere together on the outer fide : the calyx and corolla of the female 
flower are fimilar to thofe of the male : the three filaments are with- 
out antherae : the germen is large : the ftyle cylindrical, very fhort, 
furnifhed with three ftigmata, which are thick, gibbous, bifid, and 
bent outwardly : the fruit is a round apple, of the fize of an. orange, 
divided into three cells, abounding with a pulpy matter, feparated every 
where by cellular membrane, and including many ovate compreffed 
feed^ "" 
1 he flowers appear from May till Auguft 
Colocynth is imported for ufe to this part of Europe from Turkey, 
but it is yet unknown here of what place this plant is a native, it 
feems to have been cultivated in. Britain in the time of Turner, and 
the figure we have given was drawn from a fpecimen of 
produced by fowing the feed in a hot bed. Though the plants'thi 
fed 
put forth flowers readily, they are very rarely known to b 
The fpongy membranous medullary part of the fruit is di- 
reded for medicinal ufe : this, " which to the tafte is naufeous, acrid, 
and intenfely bitter, on being boiled in water, renders a large quantity 
° . t^ liquor ropy and limy t. even a tindure of it made in proof 
is fo glutinous as not to pafs through a. filter, and not 
r. 
throug 
