which is very soft and thin, and then eat it all. This fruit 
[I never saw in all of New Spain and Honduras, or in 
the islands; it] only grows in Peru.’’ (Vazquez de Es- 
pinosa, 1942, 390, 393-894; Vazquez de Espinosa, 1948, 
365, 367, 368). 
Cobo described the pepino with praiseworthy exact- 
ness. He noted varieties which were murrey, yellow, 
striped white and others, but states that the commonest 
is murrey striped with bands of different color. ‘‘The 
best grew on the valleys along the coast of Peru; those 
from the valleys of Trujillo, Ica and Chincha are specially 
famous. They require hot and sandy soil; although they 
have been taken to New Spain [Mexico], they do not 
yield as well there as here, since the climate is not so 
favorable. At the Atrisco Valley, I saw them in the 
Carmen Convent; I tried them myself and found them 
tasteless, without the sweetness of those in this King- 
dom. The juice, mixed with red ointment, is valuable 
for ‘heat of the kidneys.’ In the Quechua language it is 
called Cachum and in Aymara, Cachuma’’ (Cobo, 1891, 
II, 8381-383 ; Cobo, 1956, I, 177). In another place, Cobo 
asserted that, while it grows very well in America, the 
Spanish cucumber (Cucumis) is used merely as a vege- 
table, whereas the native ‘‘cucumber’’ or pepino (Sola- 
num) is preferred as an edible fruit (Cobo, 1891, I1, 486— 
437; Cobo, 1956, I, 418). 
Miguel Feyjoo, in his description of the Province of 
Trujillo, Peru, about the middle of the 18th Century, 
included the pepino amongst the cultivated native fruits 
(Feyjoo, 1763, 13). 
Amongst the plants collected by the botanist Hipo- 
lito Ruiz in Lima and its vicinity and in the Andean 
valleys, in the first half of the year 1778, he listed pepino 
as Solanum variegatum. The fruits, he reported, were 
very commonly consumed in Peru, and he erroneously 
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