MOMORDICA CHARANTIA, Linn. Description, Uses, &c.

There are two chief varieties differing in the form of the fruit, the one being longer and more oblong, and the other smaller, more ovate, muricated and tubercled. There are besides many intermediate gradations. The fruit is bitter but wholesome, and is eaten by the natives. It requires, however, to be steeped in salt water before being cooked; the smaller variety is most esteemed. (Drury.) From Rheede, Wight and Gibson we learn that the Hindus use the whole plant combined with cinnamon, long pepper, rice and the oil of Hydnocarpus Wightiana, as an external application in scabies and other cutaneous diseases. The fruit and leaves are administered as an anthelmintic, and are applied externally in leprosy. One-eighth of a seer of the juice of the leaves is given in bilious affections, as an emetic and purgative, alone or combined with aromatics; the juice is rubbed in, in burning of the soles of the feet, and with black pepper is rubbed round the orbit as a cure for night blindness. The Sanskrit name is Káravella, the muricated variety is called Sushavi, and bears the synonym Kándira or “armed with arrows.” The author of the Makhzan-el-Adwiya describes the fruit as tonic and stomachic, and says that it is useful in rheumatism and gout, and in diseases of the spleen and liver; he also mentions its anthelmintic properties. He points out that some have erroneously supposed it to be identical with the Katha-el-himár of the Arabs, which is a violent purgative. Drury has the following description of M. Charantia:—“Climbing, stem more or less hairy; leaves palmately 5-lobed, sinuate, toothed, when young more or less villous on the underside, particularly on the nerves; peduncles slender, with a reniform bracteole about the middle, female with it near the base; fruit oblong or ovate, more or less tubercled or muricated; seeds with a thick notched margin and red aril; flowers middle-sized, pale yellow.” In the rainy season the plant may be seen in almost every garden in India. The fruit is also offered for sale in the market, and when well cultivated attains the size of a cucumber.