KHARBUZAH
English : Melon/Sweet Melon
Urdu : Kharbuza/Kharbuzah/Kharbuza
Telugu : Velipandu
Description :
It is an annual climbing or creeping herb with large, soft hairy leaves and spherical, ovoid or elliptic fruits of varying size and colour. The Skin of the fruit may be soft or hard,yellow, green, cream or orrange coloured.The colour of the flesh varies from white to cream-yellow, orange or green. The flesh is soft with musk like odour and delicious taste. The seeds contain a kernel rich in oil, edible and are used as substitute for almond and pistachia. It grows in hot and dry regions and requires a plentiful supply of water.It is often grown on sandy riverbeds hardly suited to any other crop.
Action and Uses:
Fruit is eaten raw especially its pulp or juice forms a nutritive, demulcent, diuretic and cooling drink,urinary tract infection.It is also galactagogue and given to increase milk.
Seeds or their kernels are good diuretic,lithontriptic ,deobstruent ,tonic and cleansing agent.They are successfully used in renal calculi, burning micturition,chronic nephritis,jaundice,hepatitis and dropsy.
Skin of the fruit is a very good diuretic , lithontritptic and emmenagogue.It is beneficially used in Kidney and liver diseases and also in amenorrhoea.It is beautifying and cleansing agent and used in skin diseases.
Ibn sina’s View:
It is lithontriptic and diurtic.Fruit pulp is coctive. Fruit skin and its seeds are diuretic and emmenagogue.Skin is detergent and useful in freckles and vitiligo.Root is desiccant.