Word Study
ecballium
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun ecballium has 1 sense
- ecballium(n = noun.plant) genus ecballium - exploding cucumber; squirting cucumber; Array is a kind of dicot genus, magnoliopsid genus
is a member of cucurbitaceae, family cucurbitaceae, gourd family
CIDE DICTIONARY
ecballium, n. [NL., fr. Gr. . See Ecbole.].
A genus of cucurbitaceous 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. [1913 Webster]
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