Citrullus colocynthis

Citrullus colocynthis, with manycommon namesincludingAbu Jahl's melon, (native name in Turkey)colocynth,bitter apple,bitter cucumber,egusi,vine of Sodom,orwild gourd,is a poisonous desertvinyplant native to theMediterranean BasinandWest Asia, especially theLevant,Turkey(especially in regions such asİzmir), andNubia.
It resembles a commonwatermelonvine but bears small, hard fruits with a bitter pulp. The plant containscucurbitacinsand is unsafe to use.It originally bore the scientific nameColocynthis citrullus.
The vine ranges from 2.4–3 metres (8–10 feet) in length.
Therootsare large, fleshy, and perennial, leading to a high survival rate due to the longtap root. The vine-likestemsspread in all directions for a few meters looking for something over which to climb. If present,shrubsandherbsare preferred and climbed by means of auxiliary branching tendrils.
Very similar towatermelon, theleavesare palmate and angular with three to seven divided lobes.
Theflowersare yellow and solitary in the axes of leaves and are borne by yellow-greenishpeduncles. Each has a subcampanulated five-lobedcorollaand a five-partedcalyx. They aremonoecious, so the male (stamens) and the female reproductive parts (pistilsandovary) are borne in different flowers on the same plant.
The male flowers' calyx is shorter than the corolla. They have five stamens, four of which are coupled and one is single withmonadelphousanther. The female flowers have threestaminoidsand a three-carpelovary. The two sexes are distinguishable by observing the globular and hairy inferior ovary of the female flowers.
Thefruitis smooth, spheric with a diameter of 5 to 10 centimetres (2 to 4 inches) and an extremely bitter taste. Thecalyxenglobe the yellow-green fruit which becomes marble (yellow stripes) at maturity. Themesocarpis filled with a soft, dry, and spongy white pulp, in which theseedsare embedded. Each of the three carpels bears six seeds. Each plant produces 15 to 30 fruits.
The seeds are gray and5 millimetres (1⁄4in) long by3 mm (1⁄8in) wide.
They are similarly bitter, nutty-flavored, and rich infatandprotein. They are eaten whole or used as anoilseed. The oil content of the seeds is 17–19% (w/w), consisting of 67–73%linoleic acid, 10–16%oleic acid, 5–8%stearic acid, and 9–12%palmitic acid. The oil yield is about 400 L/hectare.In addition, the seeds contain a high amount ofarginine,tryptophan, and thesulfur-containingamino acids.
It resembles the watermelon, which is in the same genus.
Citrullus colocynthisis a desert viney plant that grows in sandy, arid soils. It is native to theMediterranean BasinandAsia, and is distributed among the west coast ofnorthern Africa, eastward through theSahara,EgyptuntilIndia, and reaches also the north coast of theMediterraneanand theCaspian Seas. It grows also inSouthern Europeand on theAegean Islands. On the island ofCyprus, it is cultivated on a small scale; it has been an income source since the14th centuryand is still exported today.
It is anannualor aperennial plantin the wild in Indian arid zones, andsurvivesunder extremexericconditions.In fact, it can tolerate annual precipitation of 250 to 1,500 mm (10 to 59 in) and an annual temperature of 14.8 to 27.8 °C. It grows from sea level up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) abovesea levelon sandy loam, subdesert soils, and sandy sea coasts with apHrange between 5.0 and 7.8.
Historical accounts of trade go back to 1895 tracing its harvest and trade in Palestine's Jaffa for export to England under the commerce name of Turkish colocynth.
"Brief account of the growth of colocynth in Palestine has more recently appeared in the United States consular reports (1895) from which we abstract the following points of interest : 19 The fruit grows abundantly between the mountains of Palestine and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, from the city of Gaza northward to Mount Carmel. The plant thrives without any attention whatever on the part of the husbandman, since the climate and soil are all-sufficient for its perfect growth-the natural requirements being merely a sandy soil, warm climate and little moisture. The fruit which is known in commerce as the Turkish colocynth is collected by the native peasants (fellaheens) in July and August, before it is quite ripe, and is sold to Jaffa dealers, who peel it and dry the pulp in the sun, It is then molded into irregular small balls, packed in boxes and
exported, mostly via England."
C. colocynthis, aperennial plant, can propagate both bygenerativeandvegetativemeans. However, seedgerminationis poor due to the extreme xeric conditions, so vegetative propagation is more common and successful in nature. In the Indian arid zone, growth takes place between January and October, but the most favorable period for the vegetative growth is during summer, which coincides with therainy season. Growth declines as soon as the rains and the temperature decrease and almost stops during the cold and dry months of December and January. Colocynth prefers sandy soils and is a good example of good water management which may be useful also on research to better understand how desert plants react to water stress.To enhance production, an organic fertilizer can be applied.Colocynth is also commonly cultivated together withcassava(intercropping) inNigeria.
Cultivated colocynth suffers of climatic stress and diseases such as cucumbermosaic virus, melon mosaic virus,Fusariumwilt, etc. as any other crop. To improve it, a relatively new protocol for regeneration has been developed with the aim of incorporating disease and stress resistance to increaseyieldpotential and security avoiding interspecifichybridizationbarriers.
C. colocynthiscan be eaten or processed as energy source, e.g.oilseedandbiofuel.The characteristic small seed of the colocynth have been found in several early archeological sites in northern Africa and the Near East, specifically atNeolithic Armant,NagadainEgypt; at sites dating from 3800 BC to Roman times inLibya; and the pre-pottery Neolithic levels of theNahal Hemarcaves inPalestine.Zohary and Hopf speculate, "these finds indicate that the wild colocynth was very probably used by humans prior to its domestication."
Colocynth has been widely used intraditional medicinefor centuries.The powder of colocynth was sometimes used externally withaloes,unguents, orbandages.Lozengesorpastillesmade of colocynth were called "troches of alhandal" ortrochisci alhandalæand used as alaxative.They were usually composed of colocynth,bdellium, andgum tragacanth. Alhandal is derived from Arabic:الْحَنْظَل,romanized:al-Ḥanẓal, a name for colocynth.
In traditional Arab veterinary medicine, colocynth sap was used to treat skin eruptions incamels.In Palestine it has been used to treat constipation,scabies, and postpartum inflammation in sheep, cows, goats, and chicken.
The seeds of colocynth, which must be separated from the pulp and heated to make edible,have been used since antiquity as a food source in areas of the Sahara and Sahel where crops frequently fail or regular farming is impossible. The enigmatic early Egyptian ceramicClayton ringsfound in theWestern Desertmay have been portable ovens for roasting colocynth seeds.The desertBedouinare said to make a type ofbreadfrom the ground seeds. The closely related watermelon (Citrullus lanatus(Thunb)) was domesticated in Ancient Egypt, and may have been developed for edible seed from cultivated colocynth.InWest Africa, the nameegusimay refer to this plant or Watermelon (or more generically to othercucurbitaceae) in their capacity as seed crops, or to a popularsoupmade from these seeds.
The flowers can be eaten, and the stem tips are a source of water.
The oil obtained from the seeds (47%) can be used for soap production.The production is not time- and energy-consuming due to the ability of colocynth to grow on poor soils with just a little moisture and organic fertilizer. The fruits are harvested still unripe by hand, the rind is removed by peeling and the inner pulp filled with seeds is dried in the sun or in ovens. The seeds yield is about 6.7 to 10 tonnes per 1 ha (2.5 acres), which means that for an oil profit of 31 to 47%, oil yields may reach up to 3 tonnes per ha.
Oleicandlinoleic acidsisolated fromC. colocynthispetroleum ether extracts showlarvicidalactivity againstmosquitoes.