Skip to content
← Recipe Atlas
Recipe · Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia (Bostock & Riley translation)

colocynthis in no vehicle

Toxicity is reported for this plant. Shown as a historical record for laboratory analysis only — not a preparation to make or take.

Original passage

There is another variety of the wild gourd, known as the “:” this kind is full of seeds, but not so large as the cultivated one. The pale colocynthis is better than those of a grass-green colour. , it acts as a very powerful purgative; used as an injection, it is a remedy for all diseases of the intestines, the kidneys, and the loins, as well as for paralysis. The seed being first removed, it is boiled down in hydromel to one half; after which it is used as an injection, with perfect safety, in doses of four oboli. It is good, too, for the stomach, taken in pills composed of the dried powder and boiled honey. In jaundice seven seeds of it may be taken with beneficial effects, with a draught of hydromel immediately after.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 4 (of 6): Books XVIII–XXIII, translated by John Bostock; H. T. Riley (1856 edition) · Book 20, chapter 8 · THE COLOCYNTHIS: TEN REMEDIES. · lines 8427–8438 · passage pliny-nh:b20:c008:001

Extracted field (numbered)Illegible in source

What the pipeline extracted

  1. 1Plantcolocynthis“colocynthis”
  2. 2Solvent / vehicleNo vehicle“Employed by itself”
  3. 3Fresh or drieddried“when dried”
  4. 4Use (as written)a very powerful purgative“a very powerful purgative”
  5. PartNot stated in source
  6. HeatNot stated in source
  7. DurationNot stated in source
  8. FiltrationNot stated in source
  9. ProcessNot stated in source
  10. FormNot stated in source