598 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
543. G. sativus, Linn., h.f.b.i., ii. Roxb. 700. 
Sans. : — Sukasa ; Trapusha. 
V ern . : — Khira (H.) ; Sasa (B.) ; Muhevchri (Tam.) ; l)oza- 
kaia (Tel.) ; Kakuri (Orissa) ; Kakdi (Mar.)-, Sante kayi (Kan). 
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India. 
The cucumber is a cultivated, climbing, annual, hispid. 
Tendrils simple. Stems scabrous. Leaves 3-5in. diam., ovate, 
5-angular, slightly lobed, lobes acute, hispidulous on both 
surfaces and also often with soft hairs ; petiole 2-3in., peduncle 
sometimes 2in. Petals fin. Female flowers yellow monoecious, 
males clustered in axils. Females solitary, all shortly pedicelled. 
Male : — Calyx-tube top-shaped or campanulate, lobes 5. Stamens 
3. Anthers free, one 1-celled, two 2-celled, cells conduplicate 
or much flexuose. Female Calyx and Corolla as in male. 
Ovary ovoid ; young ovary muricate, with rigid prickles ; style 
short, with three obtuse stigmas. Fruit commonly cylindric, 
indehiscent, 12in. by Ifin., glabrous, sometimes tuberculated. 
Commonly elongate. Seeds very many, oblong, compressed, 
mostly smooth. 
Uses . — The seeds possess cooling properties. They are also 
used as diuretics. 
The leaves, boiled and mixed with cumin seeds, roasted 
and powdered, are administered in throat affections (Atkinson). 
Cucumber seeds are occasionally pressed for oil in the United Provinces 
and the Punjab. The constants of two samples were tested in the Indian 
Museum and found to be : Specific gravity at 15°, 0-923 and 0 924 ; acid value, 
10‘68 and 11/49 ; saponification value, 195'2 and 196-9 ; iodine value, 117-6 and 
118-5; Reichert-Meissl value, 0 52; fatty acids and unsaponifiable, 94'4 per 
cent.; melting point, 35 '5°. The oil were yellow coloured and dried slowly on 
exposure. (Agricultural Ledger 1911-12 No. 5). 
544. Gitrullus colocynthis, Sclirad. h.f.b.i., ii. 
620. 
Syn . — Cueumis Culocynthis, Linn. Roxb., 700. 
Sans. — India- varuni. 
Arab. — Hanzal ; Aulqum. 
Hers. — Hindawhnahe-talkh. 
Fei’r-f.-— Indrayan (H.) ; Makal (B.) ; Pey-ko-mati, Tumatti 
(Tam.) ; Eti-puch-cha, Putsa-kaya (Tel.) ; Kadu Indrayan (Mar.) 
