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Citrullus colocynthis, with many including colocynth, bitter apple, bitter cucumber, vine of Sodom, or wild gourd, is a poisonous desert vine plant native to the Mediterranean Basin and West Asia, especially the Levant, Turkey (especially in regions such as İzmir), and Nubia.
It resembles a common watermelon vine but bears small, hard fruits with a bitter pulp. The plant contains cytotoxic cucurbitacins and is thus unsafe to use as an herbal medicine. It originally bore the scientific name Colocynthis citrullus.
It is an annual plant or a perennial plant in the wild in Indian arid zones, and survival rate under extreme xeric conditions. In fact, it can tolerate annual precipitation of and an annual temperature of 14.8 to 27.8 °C. It grows from sea level up to above sea level on sandy loam, subdesert soils, and sandy sea coasts with a pH range 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."
Cultivated colocynth suffers of climatic stress and diseases such as cucumber mosaic virus, melon mosaic virus, Fusarium wilt, 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 increase Crop yield potential and security avoiding interspecific hybridization barriers.
In traditional Arab veterinary medicine, colocynth sap was used to treat skin eruptions in . In Palestine it has been used to treat constipation, scabies, and postpartum inflammation in sheep, cows, goats, and chicken.
In West Africa, the seeds of the colocynth (called egusi) are used as the basis for making egusi soup.
The flowers can be eaten, and the stem tips are a source of water.
Oleic acid and isolated from C. colocynthis petroleum ether extracts show larvicidal activity against .
Culinary
The seeds of colocynth, which must be separated from the fruits and thoroughly cooked to make them 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 ceramic Clayton rings found in the Western Desert may have been portable ovens for roasting colocynth seeds. The desert Bedouin are said to make a type of bread from 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. (1994). 9780856685859, Aris & Phillips. ISBN 9780856685859
Other uses and research
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 , which means that for an oil profit of 31 to 47%, oil yields may reach up to 3 tonnes per ha.
See also
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