f56 FAMILY HERBAL. 



} ■ 



>ire largCj and bell-fashioned, white and downy on 

 the inside^, aiid not altogether smooth on 'the outer 

 surface. 



The fruit is large, and has a hard, firm shell on 

 the outside^ and is fleshy and Juicy within^ with 

 seeds in the nianner of the melons ; these are flati of 

 an oblrmg shape^ and hard. 



These seeds are the only part used : they ar6 

 cooling and diuretic. They have this virtue in 

 rnuch the same dearree with cucumber and melon 

 »eeds^ and are given with them in emulsions. 



The BiTTEf? Gourd, called Bitter Apple. 



Cijlucynthis, 



e 



i 



A NATIVE of the East^ and of some other warm 



countries, kept in our curious gardens, and afford- 

 ing the famous drug called coloquintide. It is a 

 small plant of the gourd kind. The stalks are 

 thick, angular, hairy, and of a pale green. They 

 cannot support themselves, but have a numher'of 

 tendrils growing from them, by which they lay 

 hold of every thing they cume near. The leaves 

 are large, broad, aa:i very deeply divided at the 

 edges. The flowers are of a pale yellow, large, 

 iand not unlike the flowers of melons. The fruit 

 is a round gourd, of the bigness of the largest 

 orange. The bark is hard, and, the inner part spun- 

 gy, with seeds among it : these are flat, hard and of 



fig 



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< The fruit is the part used ; they lake oH" the 

 touter shell, and send the dried pulp with the seeds 

 among it : but these are to be separated afterwards, 

 and the pulp used alone. It is a very violent purge, 

 but it may be given v^ith proper caution, and it is 

 excellent against the rheumatism, and violent 



bifiial head-ach3» These rough purges will 



