156 FAMILY HERBAL. 



are large, and bell-fashioned,, white and downy on 

 the inside, and not altogether smooth on the outer 

 surface. 



The fruit is large, and has a hard, firm shell on 

 the outside, and is fleshy and juicy within, "ith 

 seeds in the manner of the melons ; these tire Hat, of 

 an oblong shape, and hard. 



These seeds are the only part used : they are 

 cooling and diuretic. They have this vhiue in 

 much the same degree with cucumber and melon 

 fseeds, and are given with them in emulsions. 



Bitter Gourd, called Bitter Apple. 

 Colocynthis. 



A native of the East, and of some other warm 

 countries, kept in our curious gardens, and atlord- 

 ing the famous drug called coloquintide. It is a 

 small plant of the gourd kind. The stalks are 

 thick, angular, hairy, and of a pale green. They 

 cannot support themselves, hut have a number of 

 tendrils growing from them, by which they lay 

 hold of every thing they come near. The leaves 

 are large, broad, and very deeply divided at the 

 edges. The flowers are of a pale yellow, large, 

 and not unlike the (lowers of melons. The fruit 

 is a round gourd, of the bigness of the largest 

 orange. The bark is hard, and the inner part spun- 

 gy, -with seeds among it : these arc Hat, hard, and 

 of an oval figure. 



The fin it is the part used ; they take off the 

 outer shell, and send the dried pulp with the seeds 

 among it : but these are to he separated afterwards, 

 and the pulp used alone. It is a very violent purge, 

 hut it may be given with proper caution ; and it is 

 excellent against the rheumatism, and violent 

 habitual head-aches. These rough purges will 



