710 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 



contain powerful drastic and anthelmintic principles. A number 

 of the plants, however, are cultivated on account of the fruits, 

 which are used as food, as the pumpkin already mentioned, the 

 WATER MELON ( Citrullus vulgaris) , indigenous to Southern Africa 

 and cultivated in Egypt and the Orient since very early times ; 

 CANTALOUPE or musk-melon, derived from cultivated varieties of 

 Cucumis Melo, indigenous to tropical Africa and Asia, also culti- 

 vated since early times. The common CUCUMBER is obtained from 

 Cucumis sativus, which is probably indigenous to the East Indies. 

 These fruits contain from 90 to 95 per cent, of water, and the 

 water melon contains 3.75 per cent, of dextrose, 5.34 per cent, 

 of saccharose, and yields 0.9 per cent, of ash. 



Luff a cylindrica is an annual plant indigenous to the Tropics 

 of the Old World. It is cultivated to some extent in America, 

 but especially in the Mediterranean region. The fruit is more or 

 less cylindrical and 20 cm. or more long. The pulp is edible and 

 the fibrovascular tissue forms a tough network, which, when the 

 seeds, epicarp, and pulpy matter are removed, constitutes the 



LUFFA-SPONGE. 



The fruits of Luff a operculata and L. echinata, both found in 

 Brazil, contain a bitter principle resembling colocynthin. 



b. CAMPANULACE^E OR BELL-FLOWER FAMILY. 

 The plants are mostly annual or perennial herbs, but are some- 

 times shrubby, with an acrid juice containing powerful alkaloids. 

 The rhizomes and roots of about twelve of the genera contain 

 inulin. The leaves are alternate ; the corolla is regular, cam- 

 panulate and rotate, or irregular, as in Lobelia. The fruit is a 

 capsule or berry containing numerous small seeds. 



Lobelia inflate, (Indian or Wild tobacco) is an annual, pubes- 

 cent, branching herb (Fig. 224), the dried leaves and tops of 

 which are official (see Vol. II). About 15 different species of 

 Lobelia are used in medicine. The most important of those grow- 

 ing in the United States is the Cardinal flower or Red lobelia 

 (Lobelia cardinalis), a plant found in moist soil from Canada to 

 Texas, and characterized by its long, compound racemes of bright 

 scarlet or red flowers. The Blue cardinal flower or Blue lobelia 

 (L. syphilitica) is a plant of nearly the same habit and same gen- 



