Ecballium
Ecballium , noun
[New Latin, from Greek {not transcribed}. See Ecbole.]
(Botany) 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.