212 FLORA HOMCOPATHICA. 
extremities (oelpin, Hinze, Vorgtel, Schmur, Neumann), 
etc., etc. (vide Noack and Trinks, Handb. fiir Hom. Arzneimitt.) 
Description.—This is a trailing plant, with a white, annual, 
branched root, which strikes deep into the ground. The stem 
is herbaceous, angular branched, covered with rough hairs, and 
trails along the ground; in its appearance resembling the 
common cucumber. The ¢endri/ is filiform, branching opposite 
each leaf. The /eaves are triangular, obtuse, sinuated, hairy, 
of a fine green on the upper surface, rough and whitish 
underneath. Flowers yellow, with greenish veins, and soli- 
tary, and appear at the axille of the leaves. Male flowers: 
Calyx bell-shaped, five-toothed. Corolla monopetalous, bell- 
shaped, divided into five segments. Stamens three, short, free ; 
two of which have doubly-bent anthers, or consist of two 
anthers; in which case, the number of stamens is really five. 
Female flowers: the calyx and corolla similar to the male flowers. 
The ovarium is round, smooth, inferior. Style short, cylindrical. 
Stagmas three ; filaments without anthers. Fruit (pepo) about 
the size of an orange, with a thin but solid rind. The flowers 
appear from May till August (Woodville and Pereira). 
According to Captain Lyon, the seeds are perfectly innocu- 
ous, and highly nutritious, and constitute an important article 
of food in Northern Africa. But Christison (Disp., p. 357) 
states that those from the dried fruit brought to this country, 
however carefully washed, partake slightly of the bitterness of 
the pulp. 
Gxocrapuicat Distrisution.—Japan, the sandy lands of 
the Coromandel Coast, Cape of Good Hope, Syria, Nubia, 
Egypt, Turkey, and the Islands of the Grecian Archipelago. 
Cultivated in Spain. Burckhardt, when travelling in Nubia, 
found the ground in many parts covered with this plant. 
PARTS USED IN Mepicrinz, aND Move or PrepaRaTION.— 
The Fruit (pepo). The following description of the fruit is 
taken from Pereira’s Elements of Mat. Med., p. 1075. “ The 
fruit is gathered in the autumn when ripe and yellow, and in 
* 
