2 Kings 4:39

And one went out As the needful services were performed by the members of the college among themselves, it was no doubt one of them who went into the field to gather such herbs as he could find.

a wild vine i.e. some wild plant with vine-like tendrils, named here -vine" for want of knowledge of its true name. The colocynth has tendrils after the fashion of the wild bryony in our hedgerows.

wild gourds The Hebrew word is explained as meaning -wild cucumber", an egg-shaped fruit with very bitter taste. But the prickly fruit of this plant could hardly be thought fit for pottage. Others think that the -colocynth" is meant, and this was the opinion of the LXX., which renders by τολυπὴ ἀγρία, -wild pumpkin". This fruit might be mistaken for a melon.

for they knewthem not Nobody among the brotherhood had sufficient skill of plants to stop their comrade, and tell him the noxious nature of the herb he had brought home.