N. 0. OtJOURBITAOEiE. 
585 
and is applied over the shaved head in delirium (Watt). 
In the Punjab, the pulp is applied to the soles, in “ burning of 
the feet.” 
The pulp of the bitter variety is powerfully emetic and 
purgative. In Bombay it is -otsed in native practice as a 
purgative ; it is also applied externally as a poultice. (Dymock.) 
A decoction of the leaves mixed with sugar is given in jaundice 
(Drury). 
531. Luffa cegyptica, Mill., h . f . b . i ., ii . 614. 
Syn. : — L. pentandra, Roxb. 698. 
Vern. : — Ghia-turai, purul (H.) ; Dhundhul (B.) ; Nunibeerd 
(Tel.); Bliol, bhatkerela, bhat-kakrel (Ass.); Palo (Nepal.); 
Turi, lia-sada (Sind.) ; Dilpasand, teldoaka -(C. P.) ; Ghos&li, 
parosa, parul, turi-gonsAli (Bomb.) ; Turia (Guz.). 
Habitat: — Very common throughout India ; often cultivated. 
Extensively climbing, hairy, annual herbs ; tendrils 2-3-fid. 
Largely cultivated for its fruit, abundant in the rainy season in 
the Concan. Leaves 4in. diam., ( reniform-orbicular, 5-angled 
or somewhat 5-lobed, dentate, usually scabrous, punctate on 
both surfaces, pubescent on the nerves beneath. Petioles 2in. 
Male peduncles long, 6in ; male flowers often approximate 
near the summit ; pedicels short, each carrying a small ovate- 
viscid entire bract, sometimes obsolete. Petals 5, f-lin , yellow, 
often with elevated, hairy, green veins. Stamens 5. Female 
flower solitary, peduncle l-3in. Fruit elongate, 5-12in., often 
much longer, clavate, smooth, 10-ribbed, or somewhat 10-angular. 
Seeds f by nearly £in., usually black, very narrowly winged, 
smooth or very sparing, tubercled. 
Use: — The seeds are said to be emetic and cathartic, like 
those of L. acutangula. They yield an oil. 
The oil is dark reddish-brown in colonr, possesses a slight odour and is 
semi-drying. 
Lewkowitsch determined the following constants ; Specific gravity at 15°, 
0- 9254 ; saponification value, 187-8 ; iodine value, 108-51 ; Reichert-MeissI value, 
1- 48; butyro-refractomer ‘-degrees,” 62° at 40" ; insoluble fatty acids and 
unsaponiflcable, 64.8. Two samples examined in the Indian Museum were 
dark greenish in colour, had aoid values of 83 and 86-4, and the insoluble 
fatty acids melted at 34° and 85°. (Agricultural Ledger, 1911-12 No. 5 p. 147). 
74 
