Cucurbitacee. | THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 219 
Momordica Charantia, kurella ; M. muricata and dioica, Trichosanthes anguina, chuchinda; 
fu cg. pulwul; and f. cucumerina, junglee chuchinda. To these, the native names 
by which they are known in the northern provinces, have been attached; the syno- 
nymes may be ascertained from the works of Drs. Roxburgh and Ainslie. Of 
many of the above, the seeds are used medicinally, and yield oil, as of al-kuddoo, 
tentsee, khurbooza, and phoot, forming a few of the cooling seeds of the Indian, as some 
did of the ancient Materia Medica.. Those of Cucumis Momordica are described by 
Dr. Roxburgh as being ground into a kind of meal, and the fruit of Cucumis utilissimus 
as particularly valuable for long voyages, in consequence of being easily pre- 
served good for several months. The fruit of other species, though not cultivated, 
is eaten in India; as of Bryonia rostrata and umbellata, Trichosanthes cucumerina, 
Cucumis pubescens, which is highly valued, as it becomes aromatic on ripening. 
The root also of some species is edible, as of Momordica dioica and Bryonia umbeilata. 
The useful species of other countries might easily be introduced, if required. The vege- 
table marrow, a variety of Cucurbita ovifera, however, seems the only one particu- 
larly desirable. But the mode of cultivating cucumbers, melons, &e. on beds of floating 
weeds, as practised in Cashmere, and described by Mr. Moorcroft (Journ. Geog. Soc. 2. 
p. 258), might be taken advantage of in India, where pieces of water, covered with 
masses of aquatic plants floating on their surface, are abundant, and might thus be 
made to yield a fruitful crop. 
It is generally well known, that along with the bland, there exists a bitter principle 
in the fruit of many species of this family, as in the rind of the cucumber and the 
melon. In many, however, this predominates to such an extent, that they become 
intensely bitter, and are used as purgatives, as the colocynth, squirting cucumber, and 
bryony, in Europe; all which also form, or are supposed to form, articles of the 
Indian Materia Medica. So the African bryony has the same properties as the Euro- 
pean; and in India, with the true colocynth, we have a nearly allied species, which 1 
have called C. pseudo-Colocynthis, substituted for, and indeed from similarity of appearance 
and effects, considered in Northern India to be the true colocynth. Another species, 
C. Hardwickii, nob., from its bitterness, is called puharee indrayun, or hill colocynth. 
So also the wild and bitter variety of Lagenaria vulgaris, called toombee, and used for 
making Fukeers’ bottles, is considered poisonous. Indeed I was informed by Nanoo, 
a very respectable and intelligent native doctor, attached to the jail hospital at Saha- 
runpore, that he had seen a case of poisoning from eating of the bitter pulp of toombce, 
hich the symptoms were those of cholera. Luffa amara also, according to Dr. 
olently emetic and cathartic; so L. tenera, nob., 
and L. Bindal is considered in Northern India 
L. graveolens has a heavy disagreeable smell. 
niosa, amara, incisa, and palmata, all of which 
in w 
Roxburgh, is bitter in every part, and vi 
kurwee tori, is used in native medicine, 
a powerful drastic in cases of dropsy ; 
To these may be added, Trichosanthes laci 
are used in Indian medicine. The roots of T. cordata were at one time, Dr. Roxburgh 
informs us, sent to England, either as a substitute for, or as the real Columbo. 
de Cucumis 
