The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Part 2

Botanical Description.--Tree 10 high with leaves lanceolate, p.u.b.escent. Flowers in a sort of umbel. Corolla like that of _A. squamosa_. Fruit without the plainly visible tubercles of the foregoing species, their presence being merely suggested by a sort of net traced on the surface.

_A. muricata_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Guanabano_, _Goyabano_, Sp.-Fil.

Uses.--The ripe fruit possesses antis...o...b..tic properties; the unripe fruit is used in treating dysentery. It is said that the ripe fruit is used in diseases of the liver.

Botanical Description.--Tree with leaves oval, alternate and glabrous. Flower solitary, terminal, whitish. The fruit is much larger than that of the other species, is covered with scales that end in a soft point or thorn and has a very p.r.o.nounced acid taste.

Habitat.--All three species are common in all parts of the Archipelago.

MENISPERMACEae.

Moonseed Family.

_Tinospora crispa_, Miers. (_Menispermum crispum_, L.; _M. rimosum_, Blanco; _Cocculus crispus_, DC.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Makabuhay_, Tag.

Uses.--Makabuhay is one of the most widely known and used plants in the Philippines; a sort of panacea applied to all bodily afflictions. Its Tagalo name means literally "you may live." A shoot deprived of roots and dropped in some moist place is soon covered with bright green leaves and advent.i.tious roots. This peculiarity of the plant made it possible for me to take a large number of sprouts from Manila to Paris where they arrived perfectly fresh after a voyage of forty days, during which they lay almost forgotten in the s.h.i.+p and the cars.

The stem is the part employed in medicine. A decoction is given internally in the various forms of malarial fever and of dyspepsia. Externally it is most useful as a wash for ulcers of all kinds, rapidly improving their appearance.

In India the species _T. cordifolia_ is used; it differs but little from _T. crispa_. It is official in the Pharmacopoeia and has been introduced into Europe. _T. cordifolia_ has given excellent results in the mild forms of intermittent fever; in general debility following long and severe cases of illness; in chronic rheumatism, and in the second stage of syphilis. As the two species are so much alike we shall add the preparations and dose of _T. cordifolia_ which we have used on several occasions with good results.

Tincture of T. cordifolia.--Stems of the dried plant, 100 grams. Alcohol 21 (Cartier), 500 cc. Macerate seven days in a closed vessel stirring from time to time. After decanting add enough alcohol (21) to bring the quant.i.ty up to 500 cc., and filter.

Dose.--4-8 grams.

Maceration.--Fresh stems cut in small pieces, 30 grams, water 300 grams. Macerate for two hours and filter.

Dose.--30-90 cc. a day.

Extract.--Dry makabuhay in small pieces 500 grams. Water 2 1/2 liters. Macerate for twelve hours, filter the liquid and express the macerated drug which is then macerated a second time in 2 1/2 liters of water. Express again, unite the two liquids and filter. Evaporate in a water-bath to the consistency of a pill ma.s.s.

Dose.--1/2-1 1/2 grams a day in fractional doses.

Botanical Description.--A vine whose runners entwine themselves among the tops of the highest trees, giving off many advent.i.tious roots which seek the earth. The stem is covered with projecting tubercles. Leaves heart-shaped, pointed, entire with five well-marked nerves. Flowers yellowish-green, dioecious, growing in axillary racemes. The male flowers have a corolla of six petals, the three smaller ones arranged alternately. In the female flower the stamens are represented by three glands situated at the base of the petals. Fruit, an elliptical drupe.

_Anamirta Cocculus_, Wight & Arn. (_Menispermum Cocculus_, (L.) Blanco; _M. lacunosum_, Famk; _Cocculus lacunosus_, _C. suberosus_, DC.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Laktang_, _Liktang_, _Suma_, _Lanta_, _Lintang bagin_, _Tuba_, _Balasin_, _Bayati_, Tag., Vis., Pam.

Uses.--One of the uses to which the India berries (_Cocas de Levante_) are put in the Philippines, is to throw them into small sluggish streams or into lakes with the object of intoxicating the fish which soon come to the surface and float there as if dead. This custom is very extensive in Malaysia, in India and even in Europe, where, in order to avoid the cases of poisoning which this practice has occasioned in the consumers of fish taken in this way, it has been found necessary to forbid the sale of the berries except in the pharmacies. These restrictions are practiced in France.

In the Binondo market in Manila the root of this plant may be found in abundance; it is yellow and very bitter. The natives use the infusion (5-10 grams to 300 cc. of water) in fevers, dyspepsia and menstrual derangements. In India also the root is used in the same complaints.

The fruit contains the highly toxic principle _picrotoxin_, and others as follows:

_Menispermin_ (C_18_H_24_N_2_O_2_) is an alkaloid which crystallizes in pyramidal prisms, is soluble in alcohol and ether and insoluble in water. Hot nitric acid converts it into oxalic acid and a yellow substance of a resinous appearance.

_Picrotoxin_ (C_30_H_24_O_13_) is not an alkaloid as may be seen from its formula. Its properties are not well known at the present time. It crystallizes in small quadrilateral prisms, white and transparent, or in needles grouped in stars. No odor, taste bitter, insoluble in water, partly soluble in alcohol and in ether, freely soluble in acids and alkalies. A solution in concentrated sulphuric acid has a saffron-yellow color. Nitric acid transforms it into oxalic acid.

_Picrotoxinin_ exists in picrotoxin in the proportion of 32 to 100, and may be separated by boiling in benzine. It is bitter, poisonous, reduced by Fehling's solution and nitrate of silver. Sixty-six per cent. of _picrotoxin_ consists of another bitter substance, non-poisonous--_picrotin_, which is insoluble in benzine and is reduced by Fehling's solution and nitrate of silver. Lastly, _anamirtin_ is found in the mother water of picrotoxin; it is not bitter, not poisonous, and not reducible by the aforementioned reagents.

The fruit of the _anamirta_, the "coca de Levante" is an acrid, narcotic poison, which may not be employed internally; its uses are limited to external medication. In the Pharmacopoeia of India is given the formula for a parasiticide ointment, highly recommended in the treatment of pediculi:

_Unguentum anamirtae_:

4 grams Cocculus berries, powdered, 30 grams Vaseline.

M. Fiat unguentum.

In applying this ointment it is necessary to make sure that there is no wound or abrasion of the skin through which absorption might take place.

Botanical Description.--A vine with leaves alternate, entire, glabrous, broadly oval, pointed, with 5 nerves which unite at the base, long petioles. Flowers dioecious, in compound racemes. Male flowers consist of a perianth without corolla, the sepals arranged by threes in two or three whorls. The end of the receptacle expanded like a bead, bears a large number of stamens in 6 vertical series, with anthers sessile and 4-lobed. Female flowers a.n.a.logous as regards the perianth, with 6-9 sterile stamens. Carpels formed of 5 ovaries, free, unilocular, containing one ovule each. Fruit, a drupe of a purple color, the size of a filbert, kidney-shaped, the alb.u.men h.o.r.n.y.

_Cissampelos Pareira_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Sansawsansawan_, Tag.; _Chinchaochinchauan_, Sp.-Fil.

Uses.--Although this plant formerly bore the Portuguese name of _Pareira brava_, the U. S. P. and B. P. recognize now under this t.i.tle only the root of _Chondrodendron tomentosum_. It is diuretic and tonic and apparently exercises an astringent and sedative action upon the mucous membrane of the genito-urinary organs. The root is used in acute and chronic cyst.i.tis.

In Brazil it is used as a diaph.o.r.etic and as such is employed in cases of venomous snake bites. It is also used there as an emmenagogue and diuretic, in intermittent fevers, dropsy and suppression of the lochia in women recently confined.

It is official in the Pharmacopoeia of India.

Decoction.--Root of cissampelos, small pieces, 50 grams.

Water 600 grams.

Dose.--30-100 grams.

Boil 15 minutes; filter and add enough water to bring the total bulk up to 600 cc.

Extract.--Root of cissampelos in powder 500 grams.

Water 5 liters.