CUCUMBER n.
resh or picked. Also, similar plants or fruits of several other genera. See below. Bitter cucumber (Bot.), the Citrullus or Cucumis Colocynthis. SeeColocynth. -- Cucumber beetle. (Zoöl.) (a) A small, black flea-beetle (Crepidodera cucumeris), which destroys the leaves of cucumber, squash, and melon vines. (b) The squa…
BALSAM n.
East Indian plant ( Momordica balsamina), of the gourd family, with red or orange-yellow cucumber-shaped fruit of the size of a walnut, used as a vulnerary, and in liniments and poultices. -- Balsam fir (Bot.), the American coniferous tree, Abies balsamea, from which the useful Canada balsam is derived. -- Balsam of…
BITTER a.
gyptians . . . made their lives bitter with hard bondage. Ex. i. 14. Bitter apple, Bitter cucumber, Bitter gourd. (Bot.) See Colocynth. -- Bitter cress (Bot.), a plant of the genus Cardamine, esp. C. amara. -- Bitter earth (Min.), tale earth; calcined magnesia. -- Bitter principles (Chem.), a class of substances, ex…
COLOCYNTH n.
The light spongy pulp of the fruit of the bitter cucumber (Citrullus, or Cucumis, colocynthis), an Asiatic plant allied to the watermelon; coloquintida. It comes in white balls, is intensely bitter, and a powerful cathartic. Called also bitter apple, bitter cucumber, bitter gourd.
ECBALLIUM n.
s plants consisting of the single species Ecballium agreste (or Elaterium), the squirting cucumber. Its fruit, when ripe, bursts and violently ejects its seeds, together with a mucilaginous juice, from which elaterium, a powerful cathartic medicine, is prepared.
GOURD n.
A fleshy, three-celled, many-seeded fruit, as the melon, pumpkin, cucumber, etc., of the order Cucurbitaceæ; and especially the bottle gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) which occurs in a great variety of forms, and, when the interior part is removed, serves for bottles, dippers, cups, and other dishes.
INDIAN n.
. See Corn, and Maize. -- Indian cress (Bot.), nasturtium. See Nasturtium, 2. -- Indian cucumber (Bot.), a plant of the genus Medeola (M. Virginica), a common in woods in the United States. The white rootstock has a taste like cucumbers. -- Indian currant (Bot.), a plant of the genus Symphoricarpus (S. vulgaris), be…
SERPENT n.
e which is expelled in a serpentine from. It is employed as a scientific toy. -- Serpent cucumber (Bot.), the long, slender, serpentine fruit of the cucurbitaceous plant Trichosanthes colubrina; also, the plant itself. -- Serpent eage (Zoöl.), any one of several species of raptorial birds of the genera Circaëtus and…