82 CUCURBITACEZ.. 
History, Uses, &c.—This plant is used medicinally in 
most parts of India. In the Nighantas it bears the following 
Sanskrit, names : Devadali, Vrata-kosha, Devataddi, Gard, Jimti- 
ta, Taraki, Veni, Jélani, and Akhu-visha-ha ; it is described as 
expelling bile, phlegm, and removing piles, swellings, jaund 
phthisis, hiccough, worms and fever, and acting as an emetic 
In Guzerat the fruit is well known as Vapala-bij, a nat 
derived from the Sanskrit vdpa, ‘ weaving,” in allusion to 
cocoon-like network in which the seeds are enclosed. 
drug is a frequent ingredient in the compound decoctio 
which are prescribed for bilious fevers. In the Concan a 
' grains of the bitter fibrous contents of the fruit are giv 
infusion for snake-bite and in cholera after each stool 
putrid fevers the infusion is applied to the whole body, a 
in jaundice it is applied to the head and also given inte 
nally; the infusion has algo a reputation as a remedy 
colic. We have not met with any notice of the medicinal use 
of this plant in European works on the Materia Medica 0 
India. : 
Description.—The stems are herbaceous, scandent, fiv 
sided, slightly hairy ; tendrils two cleft ; leaves generally fir 
lobed, somewhat hairy, margins scallop-toothed; petioles | 
long as the leaves, ribbed; fruit oval, the size of a nutme 
_ armed with numerous long, rather soft, diverging bristle 
obscurely divided into three cells by a network of dry fibre 
and opening at the top with a perforated stopple, which 
off when the seeds are ripe; seeds about 18, ovate, compres: 
black and scabrous; testa very hard; kernel white. 
fibrous substance in which the seeds are enclosed is intense 
th 
bitter. 
Chemical composition.—The air-dried fruit deprived of s 
as much as possible was agitated with 80 per cent. alcohol: 
greater part of the spirit removed by distillation, a 
_ remainder allowed to evaporate by exposure to air. “a 
spontaneous evaporation the tincture gelatinized, Wh 
extract no longer smelt of alcohol it was gently warmed 
_ water bath, water added, and when cold the turbid 1 
ony 
