114 CUCUBBITACE-E. 



those away from the water were red, the others green. These 

 are all the British members of the Loosestrife tribe. 



The Henna belongs to this family ; its uses are, according to 

 Hooker, of a very remote date. The Moors, Arabs, and Turks 

 cultivate it at the present day, and use it to dye their hair and 

 nails, and also the backs, manes, and hoofs of their horses. 

 The women abstain from it at the death of their parents and 

 husbands. The leaves are gathered in the spring, then dried 

 in the air, and reduced to powder, and applied in the form 

 of paste to the parts they wish to tinge. The foliage is also 

 used to cure recent wounds and abscesses. Its flowers have 

 a strong penetrating odour ; by distillation an extract is 

 obtained which is used in the baths, and as a perfume in visits 

 and religious ceremonies. It was no doubt on account of their 

 odour that Henna flowers were scattered by the Hebrews in 

 the apartments of a bride, and for the same reason the Egyp- 

 tians keep it in their rooms. A considerable trade is carried 

 on in Henna leaves, which yields a large revenue to Egypt. 

 Moore sings of this plant : - 



" Thus some bring leaves of Henna to imbue 

 The finger ends of a bright roseate hue ; 

 So bright that in the mirror's depth they seem 

 L?ke tips of coral branches in the stream." 



The GOTJED order comes next in succession. The charac- 

 teristics of this tribe are extremely contradictory ; there is 

 at once a sweet and nutritious, and a bitter and poisonous 

 element in each member, and the plant is poisonous or whole- 

 some according as the one or other quality prevails. The 

 Melon, Vegetable Marrow, and Squash are examples of the 

 sweet and nutritious part of the tribe; the Bottle Gourd, 

 Colocynth, and Bryony, of the bitter and poisonous portion. 

 Mr. Johns asserts that the " wild vine," off which one of the 

 sons of the prophets gathered " wild Gourds a lapful," in the 

 time of Elisha, was one of this tribe. We all know how very 

 quickly these plants grow, and the example of Jonah's Gourd 

 at once recurs to the mind. It conveys a touching lesson 



