46 MEDICAL BOTANY. 
CUCURBITACESA, 
JUSSIEU. 
THE GOURD TRIBE. 
Essent1at Cuar.—Flomers usually unisexual, sometimes hermaphrodite. Calyz five-toothed, sometimes obsolete. 
Corolla five-parted, scarcely distinguishable from the calyx, very cellular, with strongly-marked, reticulated veins, 
sometimes fringed. Stamens five, either distinct, or cohering in three parcels; anthers two-celled, very long, and 
sinuous. Ovary inferior, one-celled, with three parietal placente ; style short; stigmas very thick, velvety or fringed. 
Fruit fleshy, more or less succulent, occasionally dry, opening by valves covered by the scar of the calyx, one-celled, 
(in some Momordicas, three or four-celled,) with three parietal placente. Seeds flat, ovate, enveloped in an aril, 
which is either juicy, or dry and membranous; testa coriaceous, often thick at the margin; embryo flat, with no 
albumen ; cotyledons foliaceous, veined; radicle next the hilum. Roots annual or perennial, fibrous or tuberous. 
Stem succulent, climbing by means of tendrils formed by abortive leaves, (stipules, S¢. Hilaire.) Leaves palmated, or 
with palmated ribs, very succulent, covered with numerous asperities. Flowers white, red, or yellow. (Lindley.) 
The medical properties of this tribe of plants are varied. Some of them are esculent, with a tendency to act upon 
the kidneys, while others again are active upon the bowels, and possess insufferable bitterness. Peculiar proximate 
ay have been discovered in some of them, as, colocynthin in the colocynth, elaterin in the elaterium, and bryonin 
in the bryony. 
CITRULLUS COLOCYNTHIS. 
ROYLE. 
BITTER CUCUMBER. 
Cucumis COLOCYNTHIS.— Linneus. “4 
Sex. Syst.—Moneecia, Monadelphia. . 
Gen. Cuar.—Cor olla persistent, five-parted, subrotate. _Anthers triadelphous. Style trifid. Stigma obcordate, 
convex. Fruit a fleshy, or dry and fibrous, many-seeded peponida. (Necker, Griffith's Med. Bot.) 
Srecir. CHar.—Stem prostrate, hispid. Leaves cordate, ovate, many-lobed, white with hairs beneath; the lobes 
obtuse ; petioles as long as the lamina. ‘Tendrils short. Flowers axillary, solitary, stalked ; females, with the tube of 
the calyx globose, and somewhat hispid; the dim) campanulate, with narrow segments. Petals small. Fruit ( pepo) 
globose, smooth, size of an orange, yellow when ripe, with a thin, solid rind, and a very bitter flesh. (De Candolle.) 
This plant is found in warm climates, in sandy soil. It is an inhabitant of Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, Turkey, 
Seca; ye 7 the Greek Islands. It is not, however, confined to these countries, but is cultivated in others 
propitious to it. 
It is arranged in a cancellated form, and contains a great number of 
The plant is supposed to be the «wild vine” mentioned in 2 Kings, iv. 39, of the Old Testament, (Peretra.) It 
as : the pulp and pericarp of the seeds are bitter, the interior of the ie 
and nutritious. Captain Lyon informs us that the interior substance of the seeds is an article of diet ™ 
