A vine plant with triangular leaves and yellow flowers that produce round, hard yellow fruits; its slightly poisonous pulp is used for treating stomach issues.
About Colocynth
The wild gourd appears in the Bible in 2 Kings 4:39, where one of Elisha's followers unknowingly gathered its fruit and added it to a stew during a famine. When people tasted it, they cried out, "There is death in the pot!" because of its extreme bitterness and potential toxicity. Most scholars identify this plant as Citrullus colocynthis (colocynth or bitter apple), a vine that spreads along the ground or climbs over shrubs and fences.
The colocynth fruit looks like a small, round gourd and contains a spongy, bitter pulp. In large amounts, it can cause severe stomach distress and act as a strong laxative.
Key References
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.
All Scripture References (2)
Deuteronomy (1)
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
2 Kings (1)
One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.