Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants
velvet leaf

Cucumis melo

Family: Cucurbitaceae (Pumpkin family)
Genus: Cucumis
Botanical name: Cucumis melo
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Sanskrit: Madhuphala
Hindi: Kharbooza
English: Muskmelon
Malayalam: Kakkarikka

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Annual climbing or creeping herb, stem angular, scabrous. Leaves orbicular reniform, 5 angled or 5 lobed, scabrous on both surfaces. Flowers unisexual, yellow. Fruit slender and elongate up to 90cm long, pale or dark green in colour, smooth or rigid.
The fruit is appetiser, laxative, diuretic, aphrodisiac , antilithic and tonic and is useful in insanity, dyspepsia and general debility. The seeds are cooling, diuretic and useful in bronchitis, chronic fever, ophthalmia, nephropathy and burning sensation.