Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad., Cucurbitaceae (colocynth or wild-gourd or bitter-apple), is a non hardy, herbaceous perennial vine, branched from the base. Originally from Tropical Asia and Africa, it is now widely distributed in the Saharo-Arabian phytogeographic region in Africa and the Mediteranean region. The stems are angular and rough; the leaves are rough, 5–10 cm in length, deeply 3–7 lobed; solitary pale yellow blooms. Each plant produces 15–30 round fruits, about 7–10 cm in diameter, green with undulate yellow stripes, becoming yellow all over when dry. Seeds are small (~6 mm in length), smooth and brownish when ripe. C. colocynthis occurs in many places in Israel, from the north to the hot desert, in sandy soils and wadis. It flowers between May and August (Feinbrun–Dothan 1978).

During biblical times, fruits were gathered and considered as a deadly poison (II Kings 4:39–40). The fruits are widely used medicinally, especially for stomach pains. The pulp, because of its content of glucosides, such as colocynthin, is a drastic hydragogue, cathartic, and laxative (Dafni et al. 1984; Burkill 1985). The fruits were exported as a laxative from the Gaza Strip to Europe in the early 20th century (Palevich and Yaniv 1991). The seeds are edible and when ground provide a rude bread for the desert Bedouins (Zohary 1982). The seeds have a high oil content (17–19%); in ancient times it was among the oils permitted to be used for candle light (Palevitch and Yaniv 1991)

In recent years there has been much interest in developing new oilseed crops which could be used in food, and for medicinal and industrial purposes (Yaniv et al. 1994). Many melon seeds (Cucurbita spp., Citrullus spp.) are rich in oil and protein (Al-Khalifa 1996) and although none of these oils has been utilized on an industrial scale, many are used as cooking oils in some African and Middle Eastern countries (El-Magoli et al. 1979). Melon seeds are utilized for oil production, especially in Nigeria (Girgis and Said 1968). Melon seed oil contains a large amount of linoleic acid (C18:2) which is important for human nutrition and an essential fatty acid and very little linolenic acid (C18:3) (Akoh and Nwosu 1992; Huang et al. 1994; Udayasekhara Rao 1994). Such oil composition resembles safflower oil (Yaniv et al. 1996) and is very beneficial for human diets.

Accessions of wild Citrullus colocynthis have been collected in arid zones in Israel and kept in the Israel Gene Bank. This gene pool was evaluated for chemical and agronomical characters, in order to test the seeds as candidates for a potential new oilseed crop in Israel—a crop adapted to arid zones.