iqo 



CUCURBITaCE/E. 



drils, and fruit, though someAvhat smaller, are so similar to those 

 ot the garden cucumher (Ci'icuiiiis sativiis) that it might easily 

 happen that the man sent out by the disaiples of the prophet took 

 them for a harmless plant and prepared a meal of them. The 

 bitter taste made the disciples at once fear that it was poisonous, 

 such a taste being generally believed by the Hebrews to indicate 

 poison. (See Rev. viii. lo, ii.) The.Colocynth may also be 



the vine of Sodom of 

 Deuteronomy xxxii. 32, 

 The Squirting Cucum- 

 bers [Ecbdliiiin), the 

 fruit of which, when ripe, 

 detaches itself from its 

 stalk, squirting its juice 

 and seeds backwards, is 

 also a very powerful 

 drug known as Elate- 

 rium. A case is even 

 recorded of a person 

 being taken dangerously 

 ill from having merely 

 carried a specimen in his 

 hat. Many species of 

 the Order, however, pro- 

 duce edible fruit, as, for 

 instance, the numerous 

 varieties of the Cucum-. 

 ber [Ci'iiiiiiu's saf'nuis), 

 ISfelon (Ciuin/iis Melo), 

 and Water Melon ( Ci'icii- 

 mis Citri'ilhis), and one 

 of our finest vegetables, 

 fhe "\'egetable Marrow 

 ( Ciici'iiinta ov'ifera ). 'I'he 

 only liritish member of 

 the Order, the AVhite ]!ryony (Bryonia ilioiax), [jartakes of the 

 properties uf Culocynth, and its root is fised in medicine. It is 

 said that its tender shoots may be eaten^ boiled, and resembles 

 Asparagus in flavour ; but the shoots of th*e J51ack JJryony ( I'dmus 

 mmmihiis), a widely different iilant, belongitig to another Order, 

 may have been meant ; and, in either ca'se, the experiment is a 

 dangerous one. 



luICA (\]'h!tc Br^ 



I. Bryonia (White i!r}on)). — Slender climbing herbs, with 



