VEGETABLE IRRITANTS. 35 



peduncle.- Fruit oblong-ovoid ; J-sin. ; pendent ; capped by 

 withered flower. — Pericarp thick ; white inside; filled with juice, 

 in which lie numerous pale-brown seeds, (when ripe), suddenly 

 separating from stalk, and violently expelling contents through 

 orifice. — Perenn. ; pale yellow, centres green. 

 Toxu- pnndph.—ELktE'Rl^. 



CUCUMIS COLOCYNTHIS {Central Europe). 



BITTER APPLE — COLOCYNTH. 



Cuciirbitacece. — Root woody ; branched ; yellow ; crown 

 brown. — Stems prostrate ; rough ; branched. — Leaves alternate ; 

 with lateral tendril ; deeply cleft ; undulated ; on long stalks. — 

 Flowers unisexual ; solitary : on long peduncles. — Fruit 

 globose ; s^in. ; smooth ; rarely longitudinally furrowed ; mot- 

 tled ; I celled ; pericarp hard, but thin ; yellow. — Seeds numer- 

 ous ; immersed in white pulp ; ^in. ; compressed ; brown. — 

 Perenn. — Pale yellow. 



Toxic ^wz«2t'/i'.— COLOCYNTHIN. 



GARCINIA CAMBOGIA {Siam and Cochin China). 



GAMBOGE TREE. 



GuitifercB. — Tree ; 25-5oft. — Branches many ; spreading.-- 

 Leaves opposite ; on short petioles without stipules ; oval ; 

 midrib prominent beneath. — Flowers dioecious ; coming from 

 leaf-axils of previous years ; pale yellow. — Fruit the size of a 

 crab-apple ; spherical ; depressed at top ; surrounded at base 

 by 5 persistent sepals ; 4 celled ; fleshy ; yellow-green.- -Seeds 

 I to each cell. 



Toxic principie.—CkUBOGlfl. 



EXOGONIUM PURGA. 

 IPO MCE A PURGA (JVesi Mexico). 



JALAP PLANT. 



ConvolvulacecB. — Herbaceous twiner. — Stems numerous ; 

 slender; twisted; I2lt. ; arising from crown of tubercular. — 

 Roots, which are nearly globular, tapering ; mottled brown ; 

 white inside. — Leaves alternate ; on long stalks ; cordate ; 

 pointed ; entire. — Flowers in small axillary cymes of 3 ; corolla 

 2^in. ; salver-shaped, glabrous ; tube 2in., contracted on 

 joining limb. — Perenn ; June-Sept. ; purplish-pink. 



Toxic principle. — CONVOLYULIN ; also contained in L tur- 

 pethum 



