* a wild vine.
Isa 5:4 Jer 2:21 Mt 15:13 Heb 12:15
* wild gourds.
The word {pakk(8193)th,} from {peka,} in Chaldee, to burst, and in
Syriac, to crack, thunder, is generally supposed to be the
fruits of the coloquintida, or colocynth; whose leaves are
large, placed alternately, very much like those of the vine,
whence it might be called a wild vine: the flowers are white,
and the fruit of the gourd kind, of the size of a large apple,
and when ripe, of a yellow colour, and a pleasant and inviting
appearance. It ranks among vegetable poisons, as all intense
bitters do; but, judiciously employed, it is of considerable
use in medicine. It is said that the fruit, when ripe, is so
full of wind that it bursts, and throws its liquor and seeds
to a great distance: and if touched, before it breaks of
itself, it flies open with an explosion, and discharges its
foetid contents in the face of him who touched it.
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