N. O. CUCURBITACE^. 589 



Petiole without glands, 3-4in. Flowers large, yellow, monoecious, 

 all solitary; without bracts. Male flowers: — Peduncle 3-4in. 

 Calyx-tube campanulate, lobes 5, when young often narrow ; 

 leaflike, scarcely serrate. Corolla of 5 petals nearly separate ; 

 stamens 3, inserted near the mouth of the tube, anthers exsert, 

 free, one 1-celled, two 2-celled, cells sigmoid. Female flowers : — 

 peduncle l-2in., Calyx and Corolla as in the male ; ovary 

 oblong, densely hairy ; style thick, with 3 flexuous stigmas ; 

 ovules numerous, horizontal, placentas 3. Fruit green, 

 1-l^ft., often 2ft. by Jft., cylindric, fleshy, oblong, pubescent, 

 indehiscent, without ribs, ultimately covered with a white 

 waxy bloom. Seeds many, oblong, compressed, margined, \ 

 by |in. 



Uses : — The fruit possesses alterative and styptic properties, 

 and is popularly known as a valuable antimercurial. It is also 

 said to have cooling properties. It is considered tonic, nutritive 

 and diuretic, and a specific for haemoptysis and other haemorrh- 

 ages from internal organs. The fresh juice from the fruit given 

 internally, while a slice of the fruit is at the same time applied 

 to the temples, is said to be an efficacious cure for internal 

 haemorrhage. According to the Sanskrit authors, it is useful 

 in insanity, epilepsy, and other nervous diseases ; the fresh 

 juice is given either with sugar or as an adjunct to other 

 medicines for these diseases (U. C. Dutt). 



Is used extensively as a preserve by natives. 



" The seeds possess anthelmintic properties, and are useful 

 in cases of taenia. The expressed oil of the seeds, in doses of 

 half an ounce, repeated once or twice at an interval of two 

 hours, and followed by an aperient, is said to be equally effica- 

 cious. May be used as a substitute for male fern" (Official 

 Correspondence from Bombay Committee regarding the revision 

 of Indian Pharmacopoeia.) 



" The fresh juice is often used as a vehicle to administer 

 pearl shell for the cure of phthisis in the first stage" (Asst.- 

 Surgn. Sakharam Arjun, Bombay). " This is so universally 

 believed to be useful in pulmonary consumption that some 



