CUCURBITACEjE. 311 



states that it exceeds any thing he has tried ; he also employed it, with good 

 results, in some cases of enlargement of the spleen. 



It is possible that this plant is the M. purgans, Martius, from the fruit of 

 which an extremely bitter extract is made, and which has been found very 

 efficacious in dropsy. The plant described by Dr. Hancock is extremely 

 abundant, he says, in Guiana, and it is well deserving of further trial, for if it 

 is found to fulfil what he has stated of its powers, it will be a valuable addi- 

 tion to the class of hydragogue purgatives, and it appears to be more cer- 

 tain in its effects than Elaterium, and could be afforded at a much lower 

 price. 



Several other species of LufFa are active; thus L. amara, of India, is ex- 

 tremely bitter, and has a violently emetic and cathartic fruit. The juice of 

 the roasted pepo is used by the natives as a topical application in headache, 

 and the seeds as an emeto-purgative (Roxburgh, iii. 715). The L. bindaal, 

 is said by Royle to be used in Northern India as a drastic in cases of dropsy. 



Many other plants of this order have been found to be endowed with medi- 

 cinal and active qualities. All the species of Lagenaria, or gourds, are 

 fetid, and even poisonous, especially in a wild state. Lindley (Fl. Med. 84), 

 states some sailors died from drinking some beer that had been standing in a 

 gourd; and- Royle says he learned from a Hindoo physician, that the pulp 

 would occasion violent purging. The fruit of Melothria pendula, a native of 

 the West Indies and United States, is extremely drastic ; half a one is a dose for 

 an adult, and Martius (Jour. Chim. Med. iii. 193) states, that three or four 

 act powerfully on a horse. The fruit of Tricosanthes palmdta are con- 

 sidered poisonous, and Ainslie (Mat. Ind.) says, that the seeds pounded and 

 mixed with warm cocoa-nut oil is esteemed a valuable application in India in 

 offensive ulcers of the ears and nose. The seeds of T. amara, according to 

 Martius, are used in the West Indies as a bitter and astringent, but sometimes 

 prove emetic. The fruit of T. villosa acts like colocynth, and that of T. cu- 

 cumerina is reckoned, in India, to be anthelmintic. The root of T. cordata 

 is bitter, and has been employed in the same country as a substitute for Co- 

 lumba. The seeds and leaves of Muricia cochinchinensis, according to 

 Loureiro (Fl. Coch., 596), are abstergent, and aperient, and are thought bene- 

 ficial in obstructions of the liver, tumours, &c. The root and seeds of Sicyos 

 angulata, a native plant, are bitter and diuretic, (R&fin.'Med. Fl. ii. 263.) 



Bryonia. — Linn. 

 Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Calyx with 5 short teeth. Petals 5, distinct or united 

 at base. Males, stamens 5, triadelphous ; anthers flexuous. Females, style mostly 3-cleft. 

 Fruit an ovate, or globose, smooth berry, generally few-seeded. 



B. dioica, Willdenow. — Leaves palmate, 5-lobed, toothed, rough on both sides. Flowers 

 racemose, dioecious. 



Willdenow, Sp. PI. iv. 621 ; English Bot. t. 439 ; Stephenson and 

 Churchill, i. 64 ; Woodville, ii. 194. 



Common Names. — Bryony ; Tetter Berry; Wild Hops. 



Foreign Names. — Bryone, Fr. ; Brionia bianca, It. ; Zaunrube, Ger. 



This Bryony is a native of England, and has often been confounded with 

 the B. alba of the continent of Europe, which, however, it is identical with in 

 its sensible properties. Although it is now seldom employed as a medicinal 

 agent, it was at one time held in such high repute that it deserves notice, 

 added to which several cases of poisoning by it have occurred, rendering a 

 knowledge of its properties of importance to the physician and medical jurist. 



