236 A COMPENDIUM OF 
known as the bitter apple or cucumber. It 
is a native of western Asia and northern 
Africa, also found along the arid sands of Spain 
and Portugal. Colocynth is an annual trailing 
plant, not unlike the melon vines of this country. 
The leaves are arranged alternately on the sto- 
lon and have long petioles; the blades triangular 
in shape and many cleft; serrate as to their out- 
lines, and covered by a dense pubescence; flow- 
ers are yellow in color and appear singly. The 
fruit (Fructus Colocynthidis) is globular in 
Shape, nearly the size of a small orange, 
and when ripe, smooth and yellow in color. 
When found in the stores they are globular in 
shape, light and spongy, deprived of their rind 
or epicarp; when broken they present to the 
eye many ovate, flat seeds. The fruit of the 
Colocynth has little odor but an intensely bitter 
taste; very dark specimens should be discarded 
as unfitfor use. Colocynth contains resin, fixed 
ow, gum, and its active principle, colocynthin, a 
glucoside which is capable of crystallization. 
Colocynth is a drastic purgative and emetic in 
large doses, given in form of extracts; it is an in 
-gredient in the C. C. pills, also the pills of colo- 
cynth et hyoscyami. At one time an infusion 
of the fruit was highly recommended as a medi- 
cine. The Colocynth was known and written 
upon as early as the eleventh century. 
Coriandrum Coriander, Coriandrum Sati- 
vum.—Natural order Umbelliferaee Ccelos-. 
perme. Native of the southern parts of Europe 
and Central Asia, and now cultivated in many 
other parts of the world. Coriander is an an- 
nual plant, with an erect stem, round, smooth 
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