Paradigm Shifts in Understanding Citrullus colocynthis-L: The Science of the Desert Apple

Abstract

Citrullus colocynthis L is a most important ethno-pharmaceutical herbal plant, It is native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia and is distributed among the west coast of northern Africa, eastward through the Sahara, Egypt until India, and reaches also the north coast of the Mediterranean and the Caspian Seas. In Asia, it grows in the sandy desert of Pakistan, particularly in Sindh, North Baluchistan, Las Bella, KPK, and Kashmir etc. In Khairpur Mir it is commonly found in the Nara desert, the desert of Kotdiji, and the alluvial soils of Gadeji. It is very popular, round like melon and yellow in color. It is bitter in taste. Its flowers, leaves, roots, and seeds, are medicinally very useful It is used by common people for the cure of different diseases.  Ethnobotanically, Citrullus colocynthis L is commonly used as a drug for various stomach diseases also. This preliminary report will offer basic information to pharmaceutical for further research and to discover new medicinal compounds derived from many other diseases.