Scientific name: Citrullus
colocynthis
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Common English name: vine of Sodom, bitter apple
Common Arabic name: Hanthal
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Scientific name: Citrullus
colocynthis |
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If you imagine a watermelon vine bearing a small, hard fruit with a bitter pulp, almost as big as an orange, you will have a very close idea to the colocynth plant. Despite the vast areas that the plant occupies, extending form west coast of northern Africa as far as Ceylon, the plant grows abundantly between the mountains of Palestine and the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, for all it's requirements are available being merely, sandy soils, warm climates and little moisture. The fruit is collected in July and August, before it is quite ripe, peeled and the pulp is dried in the sun. It has been used since the time of the Assyrians as a purgative (See Citrullus colocynthis). The ancient Egyptians used to exorcise evil spirits by drinking it with wine, and to know whether a woman is fertile by introducing into her womb a mixture of colocynth and another woman's milk. This was based on a legend that the Egyptian god of chaos, Seth, once followed the beautiful great mother-goddess, Isis, and after he turned himself to a bull, he spread his semen angrily on the ground, and the colocynth plant sprouted. | |