A trailing or climbing, hispid, monoecious annual. Stem angular, grooved, hairy, tendrils 2-3fid; leaves ovate to obovate, lobes bipinnatifid, scabrous, up to 17 cm long; flowers yellow, solitary or paired on long peduncles; fruits globose or oblong with rounded ends, up to 60 cm long, rind green or cream, mottled or striped with longitudinal irregular bands, waxy, hard, flesh soft, spongy, juicy, reddish pink or pale pink, sweet, sometimes bitter in wild forms; seeds numerous 6-10 mm long, pyriform, compressed, black, pink, brown, white or yellow.

Laxative (plant); diuretic, cooling, demulcent, diuretic, purgative and aphrodisiac (seed); febrifuge (leaves)

Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai
Plants for a Future
PIER

Alanine, acetylserin, arginine, aspartic acid, beta-carotene, beta-ionone, cucurbitacin-E,, cysteine, folacin, geranial, glutamic acid, glycine, hexanol, lutein, lycopene, lysine, methionine, niacin, nonanal, pantothenic acid, pectin, phenylalanine, thiamin, tryptophan, tyrosine, T-2-heptenal, T-2-octenol, valine (fruit); alanine, a- and ß-aminobutyric acids, arginine, citrulline, glutamic acid, glycine, leucine, phenylalanine and valine (juice); lauric acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid (seed)

As a tonic, in the treatment of cancer, bed wetting and urinary infections, paralyzes tapeworms and roundworms (seed); in strangury and urinary complaints (fresh juice); effective in the treatment of dropsy and renal stones (fruit); in diarrhoea (pericarp); in diabetes (rind of the fruit).

Chandel et al., Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India.