Pepo (Cucurbita pepo).
The dried, ripe seed of the cultivated varieties of Cucurbita Pepo, Linné (Nat. Ord. Cucurbitaceae). A native of the Levant; extensively cultivated. Dose, 1 ounce.
Common Name: Pumpkin Seed.
Principal Constituents.—A large amount of fixed oil (over 40 per cent) and a taeniafuge principle—a greenish-brown, acrid resin—; fatty acids and two proteids—myosin and vitellin.
Specific Indications.—Tape-worm; round worm; ardor urinae.
Action and Therapy.—An emulsion of pumpkin seeds prepared by rubbing one ounce of the crushed seeds with eight fluidounces of water, taken husks and all, after preparatory catharsis and fasting, is a safe and often efficient agent for the expulsion of tape-worm. A dose of castor oil should follow the administration of the emulsion. Sometimes oleo-resin of male fern is given with it, the concoction being sweetened if desired. Pepo will also remove round worms. The ethereal oil, in two drachm doses, has been similarly employed, but is less efficient than the whole seeds.
An infusion of pumpkin seed is useful as a lenitive and diuretic in scalding of urine, strangury and other irritative urinary disorders.
