596 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS, 
stated to be milder in its operation than the pnlp of the fruit, 
and to cause less irritation (Pli. Ind., p. 96). 
542. C. Melo l Linn. h.f.b.i., ii. 620 ; Roxb. 700. 
Vern. : — Kharbuza (H.) ; Kharmuj (B . ) ; Vellari-Verai (Tam.t; 
Mulam-pandu (Tel.) ; Dungra (C. P.) ; Chibunda (Mar.) ; Gidhro 
(Sind.) ; Zaghun (Ladak) ; Sardn or SirdA paliz (Pushtu) ; Re-mo 
(Naga.). 
Habitat Cultivated throughout India. 
Annual herb. Stems prostrate, scabrous. Leaves rounded, 
angled ; male flowers, with the Calyx-tube slightly ventricose 
at the base and dilated at the apex : stamens included, 
anthers shorter than the connective Bisexual flowers with the 
anthers as the male ; stigmas 3-4, shortly 2-lobed. Fruit ovate 
or somewhat globose, 8-12-furrowed, fleshy, indehiscent or irre- 
gularly bursting. Seeds ovate, compressed, not margined, 
acute at hilum. 
Uses : — The seeds are supposed to be a cooling medicine. 
They are edible, nutritive and diuretic, and used in painful 
discharge and suppression of urine. 
The fruit is considered cool and astri ngent, and is given in 
cases of dyspepsia. The oil from the seeds is said to be very 
nourishing. 
’ Not only the seeds, but the pulp of the fruit, is a powerful 
diuretic, very beneficial in chronic' and also in acute, eczema. 
I can, from personal experience, recommend those subject to 
chronic eczema to eat a whole fruit daily when procurable 
(Surgeon-Major Shircore, in Watt’s Dictionary). 
The root of the melon is said by Dr. Heberger to possess 
emetic and purgative properties, and Dr. Torosicviez has 
obtained from the roots a crude emetic principle by treating 
the aqueous extract with alcohol. ® * From experiments made 
with this substance in the military hospital of Lemberg, it 
would seem that a solution of 9 centigrams of it, is sufficient 
to cause vomiting. The powered root of the wild plant acts, 
according to Dr. Langewicz, as an emetic, in doses of 50 to 75 
centigrams (Ph. J., 26th Feb., 1887, p. 687). 
