CITRULLUS CUCURBITA.. Schrwd.
Cucumis citrullus, Serr. I Cucurbita citrullus, Linn.
Belikh-zichi,. . . ARAB. Hinduaneh, . . . PERS. Tarmnj, Titoo laoo, BENG. Tarbuzah, Turbuz, „ Turbuz HIND. Chaya pula, . . SANSK. Pha-rai, . . . BORM. Kuttoo wombi, . . „ 1Vater melon, . . ENO. Hindano ; Cauho, . SIND. Samoka, Jamauka, HINT,. Pitcba ghadi, . SINGH. Lamuja, . . LAMPUNG. Komadu, . . . . „ Mandeki, . . . MALAY. Pitchakai, . . . TAM.
Pataka, Samangka, „ Darbuje, . . . . TEL.
„Ille—deeplf:Th-bed and gashed leaves, and the 'round fruit, with a spotted rind and a cold watery pink or white flesh, in which lie a number of black seeds, sufficiently mark this species, which is most extensively cultivated all over the tropics of Asia, Africa, and America. In the Panjab plains it is apparently wild, and covers the ground for miles in sandy deserts near Sirsa, and in the Sind Sagur Doab, ripening in the cold weather.
The seed should always be preserved from the finest and richest-flavoured fruit, and is better for being three or four years old. The green melon
is the finest flavoured, although many of the others are very good. Melons grow finer in the sandy beds of rivers, the temperature being more equal about the roots than it is in beds in the garden, especially:during the night.
In India it is cultivated in river beds and in alluvial deposits of lakes, tanks, etc., where abundance of water can be had ; it is used as a 1\ fruit. It is generally considered to be t e melon of the Jews, mentioned in many parts f the Bible. The juice is very cooling, and is sa'd to do well for a cooling drink in fever. The seeds are used as the source of a mild-culinary oil in Western India. It is eaten in abundance during the season, which is from May to July. It is gathered when ripe or almost decaying ; the juice is expressed, and mixed with sugar aud rose wattr.—Roxb.; Stewart ; Riddell ; Powell ; Eng: Cyc.; Jaffrey.