HERBS AND CURES

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CUCUMBER

INTRODUCTION:Cucumbers are scientifically known as Cucumis sativus and belong to the same family as watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin, and other types of squash. Varieties of cucumber are grown either to be eaten fresh or to be pickled. Those that are to be eaten fresh are commonly called slicing cucumbers. Cucumbers such as gherkins that are specially cultivated to make pickles are oftentimes much smaller than slicing cucumbers.

Cucumber is a tender, warm-season vegetable that produces well when given proper care and protection. The vines of standard varieties grow rapidly and require substantial space. Vertical training methods and new dwarf varieties now allow cucumbers to be grown for slicing, salads and pickling, even in small garden plots.

VARITIES OF CUCUMBER: English cucumber:

English cucumbers can grow as long as 2 feet. They are nearly seedless and are sometimes marketed as " Burpless, " as the seeds give some people gas.

Japanese cucumber:

Japanese cucumbers (kyûri) are mild, slender, deep green, and have a bumpy, ridged skin. They can be used for slicing, salads, pickling, etc., and are available year-round.

Mediterranean cucumber: Mediterranean cucumbers are small, smooth-skinned and mild. Like the English cucumber, Mediterranean cucumbers are nearly seedless.

USES OF CUCUMBER:

* Cucumber seeds possess similar properties to those of the allied Pumpkin (Cucurbita Pepo, Linn.) which are distinctly diuretic, but mainly employed as a very efficient taeniacide, 1 to 2 oz. of the seed, thoroughly ground and made into an electuary with sugar, or into an emetic with water, being taken fasting, followed in from 1 to 2 hours by an active purge. The resin has been given in doses of 15 grains.

* Cucumber seeds are much smaller than Pumpkin seeds, relatively narrower and thicker and with almost no marginal groove. The emulsion made by bruising Cucumber seeds and rubbing them up with water was formerly thought to possess considerable virtue and was much used in catarrhal affections and diseases of the bowels and urinary passages.

MEDICINAL USES OF CUCUMBER:

* The leaf juice is emetic; it is used to treat dyspepsia in children.* The fruit is depurative, diuretic, emollient, purgative and resolvent. The fresh fruit is used internally in the treatment of blemished skin, heat rash etc, whilst it is used externally as a poultice for burns, sores etc and also as a cosmetic for softening the skin.

* The seed is cooling, diuretic, tonic and vermifuge. 25 - 50 grams of the thoroughly ground seeds (including the seed coat) is a standard dose as a vermifuge and usually needs to be followed by a purgative to expel the worms from the body. A decoction of the root is diuretic.

OTHER USES OF CUCUMBER:

* Cucumber skins have been shown to repel cockroaches in laboratory experiments.

* The fruit is applied to the skin as a cleansing cosmetic to soften and whiten it. The juice is used in many beauty products.

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