Lib. t. 
OF the Hiftory of Plants. 
915 
I Colocynthis. 2 Colocynthis pyriformis. 
Thevvilde Cicrull or Coloquintida . Peare faftiioned Coloquintida. 
The time. 
It is fowne in the Spring,and bringeth his fruit to perfection in Aifguft. 
It hath beenediuers times dcliuered vnto me for a truth, that they doe grow in thefmdsof the 
Mediterranean feafhore,orverienecrevntoit,wilde, foreuery mar, togatherthat lift ,efpecialty 
on the coaft of Barbarie ; asaIfo without the mouth of the Straights heere to Sancl 1 Crux and other 
places adiacentjfrom whence diners Surgions of London that haue towelled thither for the curing 
of ficke and hurt men in the (lrip haue brought great quantities thereofat their rcturne. 
The Names. 
It isvulgarly called Coloquintida. .- in Greeke the Latine trandators for Colocynthis doe 
oftentimes let dovvne Cucurbitafjlueftris : notvvithftanding there is a Cucurbit a (ylneflris that ditfe- 
reth from Colocynthis^ or Coloquintida: for Cucurbit a fytueHr is is callbd in Greeke «.w-3« , or 
wilde Coloquinuda,whereof (hall be fet forth a peculiar chapter next after the Cucurbiu or Gourd ; 
in Englidnit is called Coloquintida,or Apple of Coloquintida. 
the Temperature. 
Coloquintida as it is in his whole nature and in all his parts bitter, fo is it likewifehotand drib 
in the later end of the fecond degree; and therefore it purgcth,clcnfcth,openeth and performed] all 
thofe thingsthat moft bitter things do: but that the ftrong qualitiewhich it hath to purge by the 
ftoole,is, as Galen faith, ofmorc force than the reft of his operations. 
* The Vcrtues. 
Which operation of purging it workethfo violently, that it doth not One'Iy draw forth- flegtfte A, 
and choler maruellous fpeedily, and in very great cfuantitie : bur oftentimes fetcheth forth blond 
and bloudy excrements,by (bailing the guts, and opening the ends of the meferaieull veines. 
So that therefore the fame is not to bee vfed either ralbly, or without fome dangerous and ex- B 
creme difeafe conftraine thereunto: neither yet at all, vnlefle fome tough and clammie thing bee 
mixed there ivithpvhereby the vchemencie thereof maybe rcprefted,rftc burtfull force dulled,- and 
rhe fame fpeedily pafling through the belly, the guts be not fret or ihaueit.Mcfues teachetb to m. 
with it either Maftich, or gum Tragacanth. 
There be made of it Trochifes,or little Hat cakes, with Maftich, gum- A nbick, T ragacam h an i 
Bdellium, 
