324 CUCURBIT ACEiE. (GOUHD FAMILY.) 



1. C prophetarnm, L. If Najfah. Eenedlai. Scabrous, 

 grey; root thick, vertical; stems numerous, angled-grooved, prostrate, 

 geniculate at joints. Leaves. 015 to .02 long and broad, firm, cordate- 

 ovate or palmately 3-5-lobed, with crisp- denticulate margin ; tendrils 

 short. Flowers minute ; fruit .01 to .02 long, ovoid-ellipsoid, leset 

 with non-poisonou8 prickles, marked with longitudinal, white lines ; pulp 

 bitter — February and March — Dead Sea to Sinai, and southward. 



2. C trig^oniis, Roxb. If Tubercled-scabrous ; stems numerous, 

 slender, elongated. Leaves .02 to .05 long and broad, cordate-orbicu- 

 late, obtusely palmately 3-5-lobed, acutely denticulate; tendrils short. 

 Staminate Ji. 2-3 in a cluster. Pistillate Ji. as large as those of C. Melo, 

 solitary ; ovary villous-woolly ; fruit as large as a pigeon's egg, 'velvety, 

 becoming glabrous, with longitudinal vittae and bitter pulp — Spring — 

 Ghor-es-Safieh to Huleh, Marash, and eastward and southward. 



There are cultivated of this genus C. Melo, the Muskmelon, Bat- 

 tikh asfar, C. Citrullus, or CitruUus vulgaris, L. , the Watermelon, e7a&as 

 or BaUilch ahhdar, C. sativus, L., the Cucumber, Ehiydr, C. Chate, L., 

 Muqti, and C. Dudaim, L. 



3. CITRULLiUS, Schrad. Bitter Cucumber. 



Flowers all solitary. Corolla 5-parted beyond middle, nearly cam- 

 panulate, with obtuse segments. Staminate JI. : — Anthers slightly 

 coherent. Pistillate Jl. : — Rudiments of stamens strap-shaped ; ovary 

 ovate, with a short style and 3 fleshy, reniform stigmas ; fruit globular 

 or ovate, fleshy or dry, indehiscent, with flattened seeds — Prostrate 

 herbs. 



C Colocyntbis, L. If Colocynth. Eondol. Scabrous, grey ; 

 root fleshy, vertical. Leaves triangular in outline, deeply 3-7-lobed or 

 parted, lobes lobulated or incised, with rounded sinuses. Fruit globu- 

 lar, .1 in diameter, smooth, mottled with green and yellow, fungous 

 within, intensely bitter ; seeds smooth, shining, without margins — 

 March to July — Sandy places near the Mediterranean, Red, and Dead 

 Seas ; near Beersheba. The pulp of the fruit is an officinal, drastic 

 cathartic. 



The Colocynth may be intended by gall in Deut. xxix. 18, Ps. Ixix. 

 21, Jer. viii. 14, ix. 15, xxiii. 15, Lam. iii. 5, 19. 



4. X:€BALiLiIU]VI, Rich. Squirting Cucumber. 



Corolla broad-campanulate, deeply 5-lobed, lobes oblong, acute. 

 Staminatefl. racemed ; anthers broad. Pistillate JI. : — Stamens im- 

 perfect ; ovary oblong ; style short ; stigmas 3, with bifurcate, subulate 

 points ; fruit oblong, echinate, watery, separated at maturity from its 

 peduncle, and contracting elastically at base, in such manner as to 

 squirt out its juice and oblong seeds to a considerable distance — Pros- 

 trate or ascending herbs, without tendrils. 



E. Elaterium, L. If Elaterium. Qiththd-el-JEFamdr. Sca- 

 brous, stout, fleshy. Leaves long-petioled, canescent on under surface, 

 cordate-ovate or triangular, irregularly repand-dentate or 3-lobed. 

 Flowers pale-yellow, axillary, the staminate peduncled, the pistillate 

 often arising from the same axil as the staminate ; fruit nodding, ovoid. 



