ECONOMIC BOTANY OF THE CUCURBITACE E 



be a native of Astrachan, and the vegetable marrow, C. orifera, is 

 considered by some to be a variety of it introduced from Persia. 

 C. moschata is our CMbur or musk-melon. 



The common gourd and the pumpkin are most valuable vegetables ; 

 the latter is much used in India by both Europeans and Natives : it 

 yields an excellent soup, and mashed with milk or cream a vegetable 

 dish which is always procurable. Pies are also made with it. The 

 natives of India dress gourds in various ways as a vegetable curry ; 

 the}' also make small pellets (vadi) of the pulp with flour and molasses, 

 which they fry in oil or butter, and use the young shoots of C. maxima 

 as greens. This use of the shoots is mentioned by Pliny, but appears 

 to be now unknown in Europe; the} r taste much like turnip tops. 

 The musk-melon is very inferior as a fruit to the true melons. 



Amongst the Ancients, pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers were 

 considered to be emblematic of abundance and fertility, on account of 

 the numerous seeds contained in them, and from their having the 

 form of a belly without head or limbs ; they were also thought to 

 represent sensuality and stupidity. In Italy a fat stupid man is still 

 called " zucca, zuccone, citrullo ; and the French are fond of apply- 

 ing the terms " concombre " and "melon'' to such people. The 

 Marathas have got hold of the same notion, as they use the term 

 " Bhopalasuti" in the sense of gross, stupid, &c; again "Bhopoladeota" 

 signifies a tomboy or hoyden — and" Bhopaliya-rog," Tony Lumpkin's 

 consumption — dying of fat. 



Cephalandra indica, in its wild state, grows on every old wall on 

 Malabar Hill ; the fruit is bitter, oblong, and about two inches in 

 length. When ripe, it is of a bright scarlet colour. In Sanskrit it 

 is called Viniba and Tundika, and in Mahratti Tondali. Indian 

 beauties are described by poets and story-tellers as Vimboshta, " red 

 or cherry lipped." The cultivated plant has rather larger fruit, 

 which is free from bitterness, and when unripe, is a favourite vege- 

 table with the natives. The leaves afford a deep green and perfectly 

 harmless colouring matter, and the root is used medicinally. 



The remaining plants belonging to this order are all medicinal, 

 and contain principles similar to, if not identical with, bryonin, a 

 bitter principle found in the European Bryouys. Bryonia laciniosa 

 is the Baja of Sanskrit writers, and is said to have been used in 



