418 
USEFUL PLANTS OF THE DISTRICT OF LAKHIMPUR. 
187. Cucurbita Linn. 
239. C. maxima Duch. F. B. I. ii, 622 ; Eng, & Prantl iv A 5, 33 ; 
Beng. PL 524 ; D. E. P. iii, 638. 
Dibrugarh. No. 34. 
Local name.— Lai kumra, kadu. (( Giant pumpkin/* 
Distrib.— -Cultivated in all warm and temperate countries. Native- 
country unknown. 
Cultivated in garden throughout the district on account of its fruit. 
188. Cepliaiandra Schr. 
230. C. indica fraud. F. B. I. ii, 621 ; Beng. PI. 523; D. E. P. ii, 
252 ; Pharmacog. Ind. ii , 286. 
Coccinea cor difolia Cogn, Monog. Phanerog. iii, 529; Eng. & Prantl 
iv, 5. Coccinea indica W. & A. Prod. 347. Momordica monadelphco 
Boxb. FI. Ind. iii, 708. 
Makum Kila basti. No. 113 : above Dibrugarh. No. 311 ; and Dibru- 
garh. No. 340. 
Local name. — Bhat karela, kunduru. 
Distrib. — Throughout India. Also in Malaya and Africa. 
A climbing herb with unbranched tendrils, white flowers and scarlet fruit which is com- 
monly eaten as a vegetable. The green fruits can also be eaten raw and taste somewhat like- 
cucumber. The juice of the root of this plant is used in diabetes. 
LXXV1II. COMTO8IT1 IB- 
IS®. Xanthium Linn. 
231. X. gtrumarium L. F. B. I. iii, 303 ; Eng. & Prantl iv, 5, 223 y, 
Beng. PL 607 ; D. E. P. vi, 4, 318 ,* Pharmacog. Ind. ii, 262. 
Dibrugarh. No. 120. 
Local name. — Agara. 
Distrib. — In all the warmer regions in the world. Probably origin- 
ally American. 
A very common weed in Lakhimpur especially in sandy places. It is believed by som» 
to cure the bite of a mad dog ; for this purpose the root is made into a paste and applied to 
the wound. Xanthium belongs to a small group of Compositae which differ markedly from 
the rest of the family. Xanthium itself has staminate and carpellary flowers in separate 
heads. The involucral -bracts of the carpellary head, which contains but two flowers, are 
united together to form a nearly closed shell which in fruit is covered with hooked spines. 
This plant is now common in most of the warmer regions of the northern hemisphere. It is 
probably a native of America and owes its present wide distribution to the ease by which the 
bristly infructescences are carried about by animals and in wool. In S. Africa legislative 
measures have to be adopted to exterminate Xanthium spinas um Linn, as wool infested with 
these burs fetches- a lower price. 
