596 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



stated to be milder in its operation than the pulp of the fruit, 

 and to cause less irritation (Ph. Ind., p. 96). 



542. G. Melo, Linn, h.f.b.l, ii. 620 ; Roxb. 700. 



Vern. : — Kharbuza (H.) ; Kharmuj (B.); Vellari-Verai (Tarn.); 

 Mulam-pandu (Tel.) ; Dungra (C. P.) ; Chibunda (Mar.) ; Gidhro 

 (Sind.) ; Zaghun (Ladak) ; Sarda or Sirda paliz (Pushtu) ; Re-mo 

 (Naga.). 



Habitat: — Cultivated throughout India. 



Annual herb. Stems prostrate, scabrous. Leaves rounded, 

 angled ; male flowers, with the Calyx- tube slightly ventricose 

 at the base and dilated at the apex : stamens included, 

 anthers shorter than the connective. Bisexual flowers with the 

 anthers as the male ; stigmas 3-4, shortly 2-lobed. Fruit ovate 

 or somewhat globose, 8-12-furrowed, fleshy, indehiscent or irre- 

 gularly bursting. Seeds ovate, compressed, not margined, 

 acute at hilum. 



Uses :- — The seeds are supposed to be a cooling medicine. 

 They are edible, nutritive and diuretic, and used in painful 

 discharge and suppression of urine. 



The fruit is considered cool and astringent, and is given in 

 cases of dyspepsia. The oil from the seeds is said to be very 

 nourishing. 



Not only the seeds, but the pulp of the fruit, is a powerful 

 diuretic, very beneficial in chronic, and also in acute, eczema. 

 I can, from personal experience, recommend those subject to 

 chronic eczema to eat a whole fruit daily when procurable 

 (Surgeon-Major Shircore, in Watt's Dictionary). 



The root of the melon is said by Dr. Heberger to possess 

 emetic and purgative properties, and Dr. Torosicviez has 

 obtained from the roots a crude emetic principle by treating 

 the aqueous extract with alcohol. • * From experiments made 

 with this substance in the military hospital of Lemberg, it 

 would seem that a solution of 9 centigrams of it, is sufficient 

 to cause vomiting. The powered root of the wild plant acts, 

 according to Dr. Langewicz, as an emetic, in doses of 50 to 75 

 centigrams (Ph. J, 26th Feb., 1887, p. 687). 



