Ecballium \Ec*bal"li*um\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ?. See Ecbole.]

(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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)