Citrullus colocynthis

Indravan

Description

Citrullus colocynthis, commonly known as the colocynth, bitter apple, bitter cucumber, desert gourd, egusi, or vine of Sodom (Sanskrit: Gavakshi गवाक्षी, Indarvaruni इंद्रवारूणी),is a desert viny plant native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia, especially Turkey (especially in regions such as İzmir), Nubia and Trieste. It resembles a common watermelon vine but bears small, hard fruits with a bitter pulp. It originally bore the scientific name Colocynthis citrullus, but is now classified as Citrullus colocynthis.

General Uses:

  1. Citrullus colocynthis can be used for different purposes as a medicinal purpose.
  2. It can either be eaten or elaborated for further uses in medicine and as energy source, e.g. oilseed and biofuel.
  3. Zohary and Hopf speculate that "these finds indicate that the wild colocynth was very probably used by humans prior to its domestication.
  4. "Bitter-apple" and spelling variants redirect here.
  5. This is also used for the poisonous Soda Apple, a species of nightshade.