,r\/*> - National Science Foundation
,r\/*> - National Science Foundation
,r\/*> - National Science Foundation
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
36. CUCURMTACEAE<br />
1. Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn. in DC. Mon. Phan. 3: 513. 1881. (Fig. 159).<br />
Cucurbtta hispida Thunb.—Cucurbita pepo Lour.—Cucurbita farinosa Bl.—Cucurbita pepoaspera<br />
Blanco—Benincasa cerifera Savi.—Gymnopetaium calyculatum Miq.<br />
Engl. Ash Pumpkin; Sinh. Alupuhul; Tarn. Kalyanappushinikkay, Pusanikkai,<br />
Pushini; Hindi Golkaddu, Kondha, Kudimah, Kumra, Petha, Phuthia; Sans. Brihatphala.<br />
Ghrinavasa, Gramyakarkati, Karkaru. Karkotika, Kumbhanda, Kunjaphala, Kushmanda,<br />
Kushmandaka, Kushmandi, Kushpandaha, Nagapushpaphala. Pitapushpa, Pushpaphala,<br />
Shikhivardhaka, Suphala, Timisha.<br />
A large trailing or climbing plant with stout, angular, hispid stems, tendrils 2-fid; leaves<br />
10—25 cm diameter, reniform—orbicular, cordate, more or less deeply 5-lobed, hispid beneath;<br />
petioles 7.5—10 cm long without glands; flowers large, yellow, monoecious, all solitary<br />
without bracts; sepals 5, fused into a campanulate calyx-tube, lobes leaf-like, serrate; petals 5,<br />
free, obovate; male flower: stamens 3. inserted near the mouth of the tube, filaments angular<br />
hispid at the base, cells sigmoid; female flower: ovary inferior, oblong, densely hairy, style<br />
thick with 3 flexuous stigmas, ovules numerous, horizontal; fruit 30—45 cm long, broadly,<br />
cylindric. not ribbed, hairy, ultimately covered with a waxy bloom: seeds many, oblong,<br />
compressed and margined.<br />
Illustrations. Rheede, Hort. Ind. Mai. 8: pt. 3. 1678—1703; Kirtikar and Basu, Indian<br />
Med. Plants, pi. 451. l°-33.<br />
Distribution. Cultivated throughout I ndia, Ceylon and other tropical countries.<br />
It is probably a native of Java but cultivated. In Ceylon it is mostly cultivated in the dry<br />
zone during the rainy season and elsewhere throughout the year.<br />
Ceylon. Central Prov., Peradeniya, Bot. Gard., cultivated* Herb. Peradeniya, April<br />
1897. Western Prov.. Colombo. Ferguson.<br />
Composition. The fruit contains a fixed oil, starch, cucurbitine, resin, the proteins, myosin<br />
and vitellin, sugar and vitamins B and C.<br />
Uses. The fruit forms a major constituent in the preparations for treatment of epilepsy,<br />
haemoptysis, phthisis, cough, asthma, ulceration of lungs, retention of urine, hiccough and<br />
internal haemorrhages.<br />
The fresh juice is a specific antidote for mercuric, alcoholic and snake-bite poisoning.<br />
It is used for insanity, epilepsy and other nervous diseases. The cortical portion of the fruit is<br />
given for diabetes. A decoction of the leaves with rock salt is given for cholera. Decoctions<br />
of the stem and fresh juice of the fruit are also antidotes for many vegetable poisons. In Indo-<br />
China, the leaves and seeds are given as a purgative. The seeds are anthelmintic and are<br />
beneficial for cases of taenia and as a diuretic.<br />
The unripe fruit is cooked and eaten as a vegetable, while the pulp of the ripe fruit is<br />
candied into a delicacy. The roasted seeds are also eaten.<br />
125