ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY. 27 



Curiously enougli it is said that the juice of the root is strongly cathartic, and is often employed as 

 such, while the young shoots are so free from the property that they are used as a pot-herb and 

 said greatly to resemhle asparai^us in flavour. The purgative properties of the root have been long 

 fcnownand in the opinion of M^.^e modern writers have fallen into unmerited neglect, as being 



iully equal in power, even when dried and powdertd, to Jalap and when recent much more so! 

 JJut of all those yet mentioned none approach the Elatenum in the concentrated virulence of this 

 quality; a few grains of the pulp being known occasionally to bring on synmtoms of poisoning, 

 and a case is recorded by Dr. Christison where a person after carrying a specimen in his hat was 

 attacked with headache succeeded by colic pains and frequent bilious vomiting and purging 



Such being the predominating quality of the family, it is well to be cautious in the use of 

 even the best known— many however are in use as pot herbs, among these may be mentioned 

 with just encomiums the red Rourd Cucurbita maxima (C. nispeda Aiushe) the flpsh of which 

 when boded somewhat resembles in taste a fine tender carrot. The water melon Cvcwbita 

 c/7TM//;/5sohighly esteemed for the cool refreshing juice of its large fruit. The white gourd 

 ( Benincasa cenfera or Cucurbita pepoj which Ainslie informs us (under Cucurbiia hispidaj 

 IS presented at every native marriage feast, being supposed to ensure prosperity to the wedded 

 pair. The vegetable marrow (Cucumis oi^/Je/ a j) justly esteemed one of our finest culinary vege- 

 tables ; and a few others. ° 



All the numerous cultivated varieties of the melon and cucumber are known to be wholesome 

 c^'- 1 """* 4^ ^^^ l^A\fin species of Momoraica, seem equally safe. The fruit of several species 

 of yr/c/^o.9a;?,/^fs especially, those of T, anguina are in daily use, even among Europeans, 

 dressed in curries ; but those of T.paJmata are not used and are considered poisonous by the 

 natives. -Those of our Coccinia indica, {AJomordwa monadelpha, Roxb.) so common in every 

 a^l' 'r ^'^^ ^'^ ^^^ natives in their curries and when fully ripe, (quite red and pulpy) seem to 

 afford a favourite repast to many birds. Notwithstanding the drawbacks mentioned above, 

 this is certainly a most useful family of plant^ owing to the great size of their fruit and the large 

 quantity of nutritious matter which the edible sorts afford, and which, on that account, are 

 largely cultivated in every part of India. Those unfit f6r food, supply many useful medicines, 



but even the best known, ought to be used cautiously when not ameliorated in their qualities bv 

 cultivation. ^ ' 



% 



Pemarks on thr Genera and Spkcirs. This being a family not yet well understood. 



the linriits of the genera are consequently imperfectly determined, whence, in the opinion of som 

 liotanists several very unsuitable combinations of species are met with among them. 1 hi 



e 



seems probable enough, but is an error not easily avoided in families so natural, unless we „.« 

 very careful in the selection of our characters, and attentive not to introduce anything extra- 



Ihis 

 are 



e 



neons, by the employment of characters derived from organs apt to vary in their forms, for, whil 

 they appear to give greater precision, they actually weaken the definition, or may even render 

 It altogether useless. M. Serenge for example (D.C. Prod.) employs the relative size and shape 

 ot ttie calyx segments as genera characters, parts in themselves hable to vary, even in the same 

 species, both m size and shape, therefore quite unfit to enter into a generic character, and when 

 so employed are liable either to mislead or to constitute very artificial genera, and, what I 

 consider still more objectionable, he constitutes one genus on account of its male flowers being 

 furnished with a large bractea, but excludes from it Trichosanlhes palmafa, the bractecB of which 

 are equally conspicuous. 



The order is divided into two tribes of very unequal magnitude, the one. Miavdirobeae, 

 containing only two genera and very few species, the other 

 signs 35, but which are reduced by Endlicher to 28 genera. 



vcurhileae^ to which Meisner as- 



J^hand 



the rank of an 



order. Whether m this view, he is correct I am unable to say, as I have not a female flower 

 wherewith to examine the ovary, on the structure of which, as compared with that of true Cm- 

 curbitareae, the decision of the question must mainly depend. If the carpels are similarly in- 

 verted in both, which the section of the fruit in the accompanying fic?ur« seems to indicate. 



b 



removed 



/ 



/ 



