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 used 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 œgyptica, Mill., h.f.b.i., ii. 614.
Syn. : — L. pentandra, Roxb. 698.
Vern, : — Ghiâ-turai, purul (H.) ; Dhundhul (B.) ; Nunibeerd (Tel.); Bliol, bhatkerela, bhat-kakrel (Ass.); Palo (Nepal.) ; Turi, lia-sada (Sind.) ; Dilpasand, teldoaka (C. P.); Ghosáli, parosâ, parul, turi-gonsâli (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, ¾-1in., 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 ⅜ by nearly ¼in., 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 colour, 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-Meissl value, 1.43; butyro-refractomer " degrees," 62° at 40° ; insoluble fatty acids and unsaponificable, 94.8. Two samples examined in the Indian Museum were dark greenish in colour, had acid values of 33 and 36.4, and the insoluble fatty acids melted at 34° and 35°. (Agricultural Ledger, 1911-12 No. 5 p. 147).
