598 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



543. 0. sativus, Linn., h.f.b.i., ii. Roxb. 700. 



Sans. : — Sukasa ; Trapusha. 



Vern, :— Khira (H.) ; Sasa (B.) ; Muhevchri (Tam.) ; Doza- 

 kaia (Tel.) ; Kakuri (Orissa) ; Kdhdi (Mar.); Sante kayi (Kan). 



Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India. 



The cucumber is a cultivated, climbing, annual, hispid. 

 Tendrils simple. Sterns scabrous. Leaves 3-5in. diatn., ovate, 

 5-angular, slightly lobed, lobes acute, hispidulous on both 

 surfaces and also often with soft hairs ; petiole 2-3in., peduncle 

 sometimes 2in. Petals fin. Female flowers yellow monoecious, 

 males clustered in axils. Females solitary, all shortly pedicelled. 

 Male : — Calyx-tube top-shaped or campanulate, lobes 5. Stamens 

 3. Anthers free, one 1-celled, two 2-celled, cells conduplicate 

 or much flexuose. Female Calyx and Corolla as in male. 

 Ovary ovoid ; young ovary muricate, with rigid prickles ; style 

 short, with three obtuse stigmas. Fruit commonly cylindric, 

 indehiscent, 12in. by ljin., glabrous, sometimes tuberculated. 

 Commonly elongate. Seeds very many, oblong, compressed, 

 mostly smooth. 



Uses. — The seeds possess cooling properties. They are also 

 used as diuretics. 



The leaves, boiled and mixed with cumin seeds, roasted 

 and powdered, are administered in throat affections (Atkinson), 



Cucumber seeds are occasionally pressed for oil in the United Provinces 

 and the Punjab. The constants of two samples were tested in the Indian 

 Museum and found to be : Specific gravity at 15°, 0*923 and 0'924 ; acid value, 

 10 "68 and 11'49 ; saponification value, 195*2 and 196-9 ; iodine value, 117*6 and 

 118*5; Reichert-Meissl value, 052; fatty acids and unsaponifiable, 94*4 per 

 cent.; melting point, 35'5 C , The oil were yellow coloured and dried slowly on 

 exposure. (Agricultural Ledger 1911-12 No. 5). 



544. Gitrullus colocynthis, Schrad. h.f.b.i., ii. 

 620. 



Syn. — Cucumis Colocynthis, Linn. Roxb., 700. 

 Sans. — Indra-varuni. 

 Arab— Hanzal ; Aulqum. 

 Vers. — Hindawanahe-talkh. 



7err«.--Indrayan (H.) ; Makal (B.) ; Pey-ko-mati, Tumatti 

 (Tam.) ; Eti-puch-cha, Putsa-kaya (Tel.) ; Kadu Indrayan (Mar.) 



