MALTA AND SICILY. 
115 
have since found them in great abundance in 
other places, and have preserved many speci¬ 
mens. Those which are not fully expanded 
preserve their colours better than most 
flowers, but the full-blown blossoms inva¬ 
riably become brown when dry. A very 
curious plant which also grows wild here, is 
the momordicci elaterium , or squirting cucum¬ 
ber, from which the drug elaterium is ob¬ 
tained. The leaves and flowers are not 
unlike those of a common gourd, but the 
fruit, which grows on an upright stalk, and 
is about the size of a small walnut, has a 
very singular property, which to a stranger is 
rather startling. When these little gourds 
are nearly ripe, the slightest touch causes 
them to fly with violence from their stems, and 
at the same time they squirt out their seeds 
and a quantity of juice to the distance of 
several yards. The unripe gourds will bear 
i 2 
