COLOCYNTHIS 107 



seem to have been known to (at least valued by) the 

 native doctors. 



Volkens (664a) enumerates Citrullus Colocynthis, 

 Schrader, (Cucumis Colocynthis, L.), among the plants 

 growing in the Egypto-Arabian deserts, pointing to its 

 exceedingly rapid development, especially the fruit, 

 which attains a diameter of ten centimeters. After 

 the vine has withered away, the fruits may be seen 

 lying in the sands of the desert, ten to fifteen in num- 

 ber, about each plant. 1 Volkens saw the plant in 

 bloom in May as well as in December, and reports that 

 when it is torn from the ground it withers in a short 

 time, owing, he thinks, to the delicacy of the micro- 

 scopical structure of its leaves. 



A brief account of the growth of colocynth in Pales- 

 tine by E. S. Wallace has more recently appeared in the 

 United States Consular Reports, 1895, from which we 

 abstract points of interest as follows: 



The fruit grows abundantly between the mountains 

 of Palestine and the eastern shore of the Mediter- 

 ranean, from the city of Gaza northward to Mount 

 Carmel. The plant thrives without any attention 

 whatever on the part of man, since the climate and soil 

 are all-sufficient for its perfect growth the natural 

 requirements being merely a sandy soil, warm climate, 

 and little moisture. The fruit which is known in com- 

 merce as the Turkish colocynth is collected by the 

 native peasants (fellaheen) in July and August, before 

 it is quite ripe, and is sold to Jaffa dealers, who peel it 

 and dry the pulp in the sun. It is then molded into 

 irregular small balls, packed in boxes and exported, 

 mostly via England. The average annual shipments 



1 Travelers through the western desert are continually meeting these "American Colo- 

 cynth" apples in scattered groups, no vine appearing. 



