The colocynth plant itself, or the dried bitter fruit used in traditional and medieval medicine as a strong laxative.
From Late Latin 'coloquintida', deriving from Greek 'kolokynthis', borrowed from Arabic 'qissittu'. This word traveled trade routes from the Middle East through Mediterranean medicine.
Colocynth was so famous in medieval pharmacies that it appears in countless old medical texts—it's one of the oldest documented plant medicines still used today in some traditional practices!
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