dropped on cotton, and applied to a fresh wound, it is considered as a vulnerary, little inferior to the balsam of Mecca (Ainslie).
538. M. dioica, Roxb h.b.f.l, ii. 617 ; 'Roxb. 696.
Vern. : — Dhâr karela ; Kirara (Pb.) ; Karantoli (Bomb.) Pallopaghel-kalung (Tam.) ; Agakara (Tel.) ; Erimapasel (Mal.) ; Ghosal-phul (U. P.).
Habitat : — Throughout India : cultivated in Bengal ; common in low country, Ceylon. Lower Bengal, form of fruit large succulent. Dekkan : fruit smaller. Fruit from the Panjab, smaller and said to be bitter.
Perennial climbing herbs, with tuberous roots. Tendrils simple. Stems somewhat compressed and 2-edged, striate, glabrous and shining ; leaves variable, 2-4in., broadly ovate in outline, very cordate at base, acute, more or less deeply cut, into 3 or 5 lobes, distantly dentate or denticulate, thin, quite glabrous and shining on both sides, minutely punctate beneath ; petiole 1-1½in., pubescent, chanelled above. Flowers diœcious, solitary, peduncle about 2in., slender, glabrous, or finely pubescent ; in the male, with a large hooded bract a little below the flower and enclosing it ; in the female, with a minute bract below the middle. Calyx-segments distant, linear ; petals ½-lin., lanceolate, acuminate, slightly pubescent. Female flower : ovary densely covered with long soft papillae, stigmas bifid, with erect torus. Fruit about 2in. long, oblong-ovoid, beaked, glabrous, evenly covered with equal-pointed papillæ. Seeds ½-lin., broadly oblong, compressed, rarely smooth ; pulpy covering red. Fruit by some said to be bitter ; that of cultivated plants edible, not bitter, or slightly so, if at all, used as vegetable. Flower pale, lemon-yellow.
Use. — The plant mixed with cocoanut, pepper, red sandal, and other ingredients, applied in the form of liniment, relieves headache. (Rheede.)
The mucilaginous tasted root is used by the Hindus to stop bleeding from piles, and also in bowel complaints (Ainslie).
