PUMPKIN, or POMPION.- 

 PEPO. 



In Botany, of the Mon&cia Syngene$ia Class. 

 Natural Order, Cucurbitacecs. 



THE pompion is a coarse, inferior kind of 

 melon, which has long been known in Eu- 

 rope, as Pliny mentions it in his IQth book, 

 chap. v. where he says, cucumbers of an ex- 

 ceeding large size are called pompions. 

 Again, in his 20th book, chap. ii. he says, " as 

 for the fruit, called pompions or melons, be- 

 ing eaten as meat to cool the body, and the 

 fleshy substance applied to the eyes assuaging 

 their pain," &c. 



Aiton states it to be a native of the Levant, 

 and says it was first introduced into this 

 country in 1570. Gerard says, " as there 

 is a wild sort of cucumbers, of melons, citruls, 

 and gourds, so likewise there be certaine 

 wild pompions, which grow in Barbaric, 

 Africa, and most parts of the East and West 



