# Colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis)

*Bitter apple; *coloquintida**

**Known today as.** The dried pulp of *Citrullus colocynthis*.

Kind: Plant  
Poisoning: Gastrointestinal irritants (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/gastrointestinal)  
Toxic: yes

> **Caution.** Poisonous; a violent purge.

## What was it used for?

A drastic purge, in pills and hiera.

## What does modern science say?

Violently cathartic and irritant; now obsolete.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **cucurbitacin E**: 
- **colocynthin**: 

**Mechanism.** The cucurbitacins are among the bitterest substances known and inflame the gut.

**Dose.** A gram or two of the pulp has killed by bloody purging.

**Standing.** No medicinal use.

## What lore surrounds it?

Thiselton-Dyer records the proverb for a bad exchange, “You give me coloquintida (colocynth) for Herb-John.”

## What did the older authorities say?

**2 Kings.** The prophets’ stew of wild gourds, usually taken to be colocynth, made them cry “there is death in the pot,” until Elisha cast meal into it.

## Sources

- 2 Kings 4:38–41.
- Dioscorides, *De materia medica*.
- Thiselton-Dyer, T. F. (1889). *The Folk-lore of Plants*. Project Gutenberg #10118.
- Nelson, L. S., et al. (2007). *Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants*.

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*Colocynth.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/colocynth

Historical description, not medical advice.