ECONOMIC EOT AM' OF THE CPCURBITAGE.E. 289 



of this species are imported from Zanzibar, and are much valued for 

 making the Indian guitar or Tani />•<>•« ; they take a fine polish like 

 close-grained wood. 



Of the three species of Luffa found in Western India, /;. cegyptiaca 

 and L. acutangula are valuable vegetables ; the vernacular names 

 Gkosali, Turai, Sirola and Dorhi are applied to both plants, but the 

 former is distinguished as Ghi-turai, Gilchi-dorki, Gilchi-ghosali (on 

 account of its superior richness), and Matti-ghosali in the south, 

 on account of its habit of climbing over trees, which it adorns with 

 its large yellow flowers far into the cold weather. In Sanskrit 

 Koshataki is a general name for this genus : it is derived from Kosha 

 "the cocoon of a silk-worm," and alludes to the way in which the 

 seeds are enclosed within a fibrous network. The Sanskrit names 

 Ghoshaka and Daliha appear more particularly to appertain to 

 L. acutangula. The two species of Turai are easily distinguished ; 

 the fruit of L. cegyptiaca being smooth and that of L. acutangula 

 marked with ten prominent, sharp, longitudinal ridges. As vege- 

 tables these gourds may be cooked in various ways like the snake- 

 gourd, which has been already noticed ; but they are best cut in 

 transverse slices, dipped in a cream composed of warm spices and 

 gram flour, and fried in butter or olive oil. The sliced fruit may 

 also be added with advantage to fish omelettes. 



The fibrous network contained in the ripe fruit of L. cegyptiaca is 

 used in India as a strainer, and is sold by European chemists and 

 druggists as a skin-rubber. A wild form of L. acutangula common 

 on hedges has been named L. amara; it is very bitter, and lias rrredi 

 cinal properties similar to those of colocynth. It is known as Ka 

 dorhi or Kadu-ghosalL 



L. echinata, in Sanskrit Devadali, in Marathi Deodangri " fairy s 

 gourd" and in Gfuzerathi Vapnla-bij (a name derived from the Nan 

 krit Vapa, "weaving," in allusion to the cocoon-like network in 

 which the seeds are enclosed ), is used medicinally. It contains a 

 highly poisonous principle similar to, if not identical with, Cohcyn 

 thitin -0296 grain of which administered to a cat proved fatal in four 

 hours and twenty-five minutes ; it also contains Cblocynthin the bitter 

 purgative principle of colocynth. The dangerous nature ol flu's gourd 

 was brought to notice a few years ago by Dr. Kirtikar, when a 



