MULTAN: Once considered a wild bush, colocynth (also called bitter apple, bitter cucumber, desert gourd, egusi, or vine of Sodom) is gaining more and more cultivating space in sandy soil areas of Muzaffargarh, Layyah and Jhang districts, Dawn has learnt.

In Seraiki areas, it is called Kurtuma or Buramba.

Colocynth is a desert plant that bears small fruit with maximum size of an apple. The taste of the fruit is bitter and animals do not like to eat it.

Abdul Hameed, a trader of Chowk Sarwar Shaheed, deals with the plant seeds. He says the second phase of the colocynth season has begun that would continue till September.

Hameed has been in the trade of Kurtuma for last two years. He said he bought the fresh yield from people at Rs50 to Rs60 per 40 kilogram and later let it dry. He has found its market in Faisalabad and Lahore. With the mechanism of demand and supply, the prices of colocynth also fluctuate.

“The prices of a 40kg dried Kurtuma before Eid were Rs1,500 but now the market is in slump and it’s being traded at Rs1,100 to 1,300 per 40kg,” he said.

According to Wikipedia, “Since colocynth is not strongly used as staple food, its seeds might become an interesting source for biofuel production. In addition, colocynth can grow on marginal lands and may improve soil quality as experienced with intercropping. The oil obtained from the seeds (47%) can also be used for medicinal and soap production”.

Hakeem Ismail Siddiqi said the fruit of colocynth was used as herbal treatment in ancient civilizations and Greeks used its pulp for intestinal and menstrual diseases, constipation and diabetics.

He said he used it in medicines to dilute cholesterol and uric acid and to treat heart related diseases and hepatitis.

He said colocynth could not be used as staple food.

Nishtar Hospital Senior Registrar Dr Abdul Khaliq said that people should avoid using colocynth as it has harmful effects.

He said that eating of colocynth could destroy kidneys and other organs and functions of the bodies.

He said that United States’ Food and Drug Administration has categorically opposed the use of colocynth for treatment by terming it poisonous as some deaths were also reported due to the access use of colocynth.

Published in Dawn, Aug 4th, 2014