543. C. sativus, Linn., h.f.b.i., ii. Roxb. 700.
Sans. : — Sukasa ; Trapusha.
Vern. :— Khîrâ (H.) ; Sasâ (B.) ; Muhevchri (Tam.) ; Doza-kaia (Tel.) ; Kakuri (Orissa) ; Kâhdi (Mar.); Sante kayi (Kan).
Habitat : — Cultivated throughout India.
The cucumber is a cultivated, climbing, annual, hispid. Tendrils simple. Sterns 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 ⅝in. 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 l½in., 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. Citrullus colocynthis, Schrad. h.f.b.i., ii. 620.
Syn. — Cucumis Colocynthis, Linn. Roxb., 700.
Sans. — Indra-vâruni.
Arab.— Hanzal ; Aulqum.
Pers. — Hindawánahe-talkh.
ern.--Indrâyan (H.) ; Makal (B.) ; Pey-ko-mati, Tumatti (Tam.) ; Eti-puch-cha, Putsa-kaya (Tel.) ; Kadû Indrâyan (Mar.)
