HINTS ON THE CULTURE OF TELFAIRIA PEDATA. 
231 
Mr. Telfair, of the Mauritius, through whose means it has been introduced to 
this country, adds, " The fruit is three feet long, and eight or ten inches in dia- 
meter, full of seeds as large as chestnuts (two hundred and sixty-four in one fruit), 
which are as excellent as almonds, and have a very agreeable flavour, and when 
pressed they yield an abundance of oil, equal to that of the finest olives. I have 
distributed seeds over the Mauritius to the island of Bourbon, and have sent some 
to New Holland, and even to^ Otaheite, and New Zealand, to the missionaries." 
Thus will Mr. Telfair have the honour of giving a most useful vegetable to man- 
kind at large, as well as a name to a new and most beautiful plant. It belongs to 
the 22nd class Dioecia and 13th order Monadelphia of the Linnsean system, and 
CucurbitacecBf the gourd tribe of the natural system. The whole of the plants in this 
order have succulent stems, climbing by means of tendrils formed by abortive leaves, 
and are well described in the accompanying figure of Cucumis ColocyntlmSi or bitter 
cucumber. This species is a native of 
Africa, and produces its flowers from May 
till August. The male flowers have the 
calyx fine toothed, the corolla five parted, 
the stamens three. The female flowers have 
the calyx and corolla like the male, and the 
pistil is three cleft. 
" Its fruit is about the size of an orange ; 
its medullary part, freed from the rind and 
seeds, is alone made use of in medicine ; 
this is very light, white, spongy, composed 
of membranous plates, of an extremely bit- 
ter^ nauseous, acrimonious taste. The fruit 
is gathered in autumn, when it begins to 
turn yellow, and is then peeled and dried 
quickly, either in a stove or in the sun. 
Newmann got from 7680 parts, 1680 alco- 
holic extract, and then 2160 watery ; and, 
inveisely, 3600 watery, and 224 ^alcoholic. 
The seeds are perfectly bland, and highly 
nutritious ; and we learn from Captain Lyon, that they constitute an important 
article of food in Northern Africa. The extract of colocynth is one of the most 
powerful and useful of cathartics, but there is no more efficacious way of reducing 
its violence than by reducing its dose." 
