9M 
Legmimous Plants, 
The pumpkin and cucumber have been known from early 
times, and are reared as esculent fruits. But their native coun- 
try is unknown to us. According to Linnaeus, the melon grows 
wild in the country of the Kalmucks, but other writers say 
nothing of this. Linnaeus places the native country of the cu- 
cumber in Tartary and the East Indies, but these two coun- 
tries are very different, and the account has been copied from 
Gutdunk. Modern botanists confess that they know not its 
birth-place. Of the pumpkin Linnaeus Habitat in Oriente^ 
which account is equally uncertain. The water-melon is said 
to grow wild in Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, but though they 
are of frequent occurrence in those countries, they have never 
been found in their wild state. All authors complain of the 
difficulty of ascertaining the names of these fruits among the 
ancients. The fruits were so well known, that no person 
thought of taking the trouble to do more than mention their 
names. Theophrastus uses only and x.oX6>ivvB-Y,^ and some 
subspecies of the first. Dioscorides uses KoXo-Avv^n> <rlitvg and 
‘TnTrm. Galen uses YnTs-m (de alimentor, 
Jacult. 1. ii.). Of the first he says, that when raw it is unpleas- 
ant to eat, and indigestible. Speaking of the he says, 
that the interior part of the flesh of the TriTirm, in which the 
seeds are not eaten, but that the is so used. Of 
trUvoq he says, some persons readily digest it, but that proceeds 
from a particular constitution of stomach. There is no doubt, 
therefore, that koXokvvS-a is the pumpkin, and the melon. 
Athenseus says (1. ii. c. 53.), that the koXox.vvB-a was called by Eu- 
thydemos a-tKvec, because the seeds came from India. On 
the shores of the Hellespont, the long fruits are called the 
round ones KoXoKvvB-ag, In another passage, he says (c. 78.) > 
the KoXoyJjvB-oii are not eatable unless when dressed. Both names, 
therefore, signify the pumpkin, but g-ikvcc. is seldom used. The 
short preceding passage has been lost, and is difficult of expla- 
nation ; but it is quite evident, that and might be 
eaten raw, although only when the former was small and ten- 
der. KoXozvvB-a is translated by the Romans cucurbita, o-Uvag is 
rendered cucumis,^ TciiYm answers to pepo, to which may be added 
‘iiielmies,, probably for ^AXoTTgTvm, Pliny is full of mistakes. 
Apicius says, Xho cucurbita are used only dressed, but 
