ecballium Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun exploding cucumber; squirting cucumber
    genus Ecballium.

WordNet

Ec*bal"li*um noun
Etymology
NL., fr. Gr. . See Ecbole.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) A genus of cucurbitaceous plants consisting of the single species Ecballium agreste (or Elaterium), the squirting cucumber. Its fruit, when ripe, bursts and violently ejects its seeds, together with a mucilaginous juice, from which elaterium, a powerful cathartic medicine, is prepared.

Webster 1913