The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Part 4

CAPPARIDACEae.

Caper Family.

_Cleome viscosa_, L. (_C. icosandra_, L.; _Polanisia viscosa_, DC.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Balabalanoyan_, _Apoyapoyan_, Tag.; _Wild Mustard_, Eng.

Uses.--The seeds possess the same properties as those of mustard and are used in place of the latter in Manila. In America the leaves are used as a poultice in ot.i.tis, their action being rubefacient. In India the seeds are given internally for their anthelmintic and carminative effect; the dose is one teaspoonful twice a day. The juice of the leaves mixed with cocoanut oil is used in the form of eardrops in suppurative ot.i.tis.

The natives give the same common name to the _Gynandropsis pentaphylla_, DC. (_Cleome pentaphylla_, L.; _C. altiacea_ or _C. alliodora_, Blanco), which is distinguished from the former by its six stamens inserted on the pistil and its violet-colored stem. Its therapeutic properties are identical with those of the _Cleome viscosa_. Dr. Sir W. Jones believes that the plant possesses antispasmodic properties, basing his belief on its odor, which resembles _asafetida_, though not so disagreeable. In India the juice of the leaves is a popular remedy for earache. It is also used there as a rubefacient.

Botanical Description.--An annual, the stem channeled and bearing glandular hairs. Leaves compound, alternate; leaflets lanceolate with glandular hairs. Calyx, 4 sepals. Corolla, 4 petals, yellow. Stamens 14-16, encircling the pistil. Seed vessels cylindrical, with channels and glandular hairs. The whole plant is sticky and emits a garlicky odor.

_Crataeva religiosa_, Forst.

Nom. Vulg.--_Salingbobog_, Tag.; _Balay-namuk_, Iloc.

Uses.--It is in common use in India as a tonic and stomachic. It seems also to possess laxative and diuretic properties. In Concan the juice of the leaves mixed with cocoanut oil is used as a liniment in rheumatism.

Infusion.--Leaves, fresh 50 grams.

Water 500 grams.

Dose.--50-100 grams a day as a tonic or stomachic.

Botanical Description.--A shrub 15-20 high with compound trifoliate leaves with long petioles; leaflets lanceolate, ac.u.minate, smooth, dark green. Calyx of 4 imbricated sepals. Corolla of 4 unguiculate petals, between white and straw color, 1' long. Stamens indefinite, violet-colored. Ovary unilocular, many-ovuled. Berry spherical with many seeds buried in pulp.

Habitat.--Blanco has seen the plant growing in Ilocos and Imus.

BIXINEae.

_Bixa Orellana_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Atsuiti_, _Achuiti_, Tag.; _Achiote_, _Achuete_, Sp.-Fil.; _Annatto_, Eng.

Uses.--The princ.i.p.al use of the seeds is in cookery and everybody knows the yellow color which Filipino cooks impart to almost all their dishes. In medicine the fine powder that covers the seeds is used as a haemostatic and internally as a stomachic. On account of the astringent qualities of the coloring matter it is used in some countries to treat dysentery, a fact which suggests its possible therapeutic or rather hygienic usefulness as a condiment. It seems to effect a cure in dysentery in the same manner as ipecac.

In India, Brazil and the Antilles the natives make a sort of paste of achuete known under the name of _rocu_. There is a hard, odorless form of rocu and another soft, unctuous, of a delicate red color and an odor rendered highly disagreeable by the urine added to it to keep it soft. Rocu is the preparation of achuete that has been subjected to chemical a.n.a.lysis. Its composition is as follows: Two coloring matters, _bixin_ (C_28_H_34_O_5_), of a red color, resinous, soluble in alcohol, ether, alkaline solutions and benzine, crystallizing in microscopic laminae, quadrangular, red, of a metallic violet l.u.s.tre; _orellin_, yellow in color, soluble in alcohol and in water.

Botanical Description.--A well-known tree growing to a height of 5-7 meters, with leaves alternate, simple, oval, heart-shaped at the base, sharply pointed, glabrous, short petioles. Flowers in panicles. Calyx, 5 rounded sepals, tuberculate at the base, imbricated, caducous. Corolla of 5 rose-colored petals. Stamens very numerous, free, inserted on the receptacle. Capsule round, dark red, bristling with stout hairs of the same color. The seeds are covered with a fine, yellowish-red powder.

_Pangium edule_, Reinw. (_Hydonocarpus polyandra_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Pangi_, Tag.

Uses.--All parts of this tree are anthelmintic. The seeds, fruit, leaves and bark all possess narcotic properties dangerous to man and the symptoms following an excessive dose are sleepiness, headache, a sort of intoxication or an attack of delirium that may end in death. These narcotic properties have been utilized in Java to stupefy the fish in the rivers by throwing the bark in the pools and quiet portions of the stream. The juice of the leaves is used in the treatment of chronic skin diseases. In Amboina the natives eat the seeds, the toxic quality of which is removed by brus.h.i.+ng and macerating in pure water for a certain time. After such treatment they may be eaten with impunity and an oil may be extracted from them which is useful as a food.

Botanical Description.--A tree with leaves 5' long, alternate, ovate, broad, entire, glabrous, palmately nerved. Petiole long with 2 persistent lateral stipules. Flowers dioecious, the male ones in panicles, the female solitary. Calyx gamosepalous, dividing unequally when the flower opens. The male flower has a corolla of 5-7 petals, violet-colored, concave, half oval, with p.u.b.escent borders; at its base a flat scale. Stamens free, numerous, thick filaments, anthers bilocular. In the female flower the perianth is the same as in the former, the stamens sterile. Ovary unilocular, with 2-4 parietal placentae with many ovules. Fruit as large as a man's head, with thin woody pericarp and many seeds embedded within its pulp.

PORTULACACEae.

Purslane Family.

_Portulaca oleracea_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Verdolagas_, Sp.; _Olasiman_, _Kolasiman_, Tag.; _Purslane_, Eng.

Uses.--The entire plant is edible, in the form of a salad or as a condiment with meat or fish. The leaves are succulent and acid, and the juice expressed from them is used as an eyewash to remove corneal opacities; it is also used in superficial erysipelas and other skin affections. The bruised leaves are used as a poultice for abscesses, contusions and on the temples for headache. The juice is given internally to check haemoptysis and in diseases of the lungs and bladder; the seeds also are used in these complaints.

Botanical Description.--A plant with prostrate stem. Leaves fleshy, wedge-shaped. Flowers small, sessile, terminal, pale yellow. Calyx of 2 large teeth, deciduous. Corolla, 4-5 petals with a notch at the end. Stamens 9-14. Style of equal length with the stamens. Stigma in 4-6 divisions. The seed vessel, which dehisces horizontally, contains many small, heart-shaped seeds.

Habitat.--It grows in all parts of the islands.

GUTTIFERae.

Gamboge Family.

_Garcinia mangostana_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Mangostan_, Sp.; _Mangosteen_, Eng.

Uses.--The seed of the fruit is astringent and is given internally as an infusion in dysentery and chronic diarrhoea. The decoction is very useful as an injection in leucorrhoea.

The following potion has given excellent results to Dr. Ed. J. Waring in chronic dysentery and the diarrhoeas of tropical countries: