The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Part 5

Dried peel of mangosteen 60 grams.

c.u.min seed 5 grams.

Coriander 5 grams.

Water 1,200 grams.

Boil till reduced to 600 grams. Take 120 grams twice a day. Tincture of opium may be added.

An a.n.a.lysis of mangosteen peel by W. Schmidt demonstrated a large quant.i.ty of tannin, a resin and a crystallizable principle named _mangostin_ (C_20_H_23_O_5_) which exists in the form of fine, golden yellow laminae, tasteless, soluble in alcohol, ether and the alkalies, insoluble in water. With the perchloride of iron it gives a blackish-green color, and sulphuric acid colors it red.

Botanical Description.--The mangosteen grows only in the southern islands of the Archipelago and its delicious fruit is the part of the plant known in Manila. The peel is at the present time almost universally employed in medicine. The fruit is about the size of a small Manila orange, the pericarp a dark red or chocolate color, tough and thick, crowned with the remains of the calyx. On breaking it open the edible portion of the fruit is seen, consisting of 6-18 seeds covered by a white, sweet pulp, cottony in appearance, of a delicious slightly acrid flavor.

1. _Garcinia venulosa_, Choisy. (_Cambogia venulosa_, Blanco.) 2. _G. Cambogia_, Desrouss. (_Cambogia binucao_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Binukaw_, Tag., applied to both trees, though the first is also called _Gatasan pula_ in Tagalo and _Taklang-anak_ in Pampango.

Uses.--The fruit of the second species, the true name of which is _binucaw_, is acid and edible. The fruit and the trunk of both species, when cut, exude a gum-resin very much like gamboge which is obtained from the _G. morella_ or _G. pedicellata_, Desr. These gum-resins, however, seem to be much inferior to gamboge; they contain an essential oil which does not exist in the latter and their color is paler.

Botanical Description.--The _G. venulosa_ is a tree with leaves opposite, lanceolate, acute, entire and glabrous, the inferior surface covered with nervelets which converge at the apex. Petioles short and flattened. Flowers tetramerous. Calyx, 4 persistent sepals. Corolla, 4 petals, overlapping, fleshy, ovate, of the same color as the calyx. Stamens numerous; no filaments; anthers round and very small. Style very short and thick, stigma peltate, divided into 10 parts. Fruit globose, depressed, no well-marked ridges when ripe.

_G. Cambogia_ differs from the foregoing in the leaves which present no nervelets on the lower surface and the fruit which presents 8 angles or rounded ridges.

Habitat.--Very common throughout the islands, abounding in the mountains of San Mateo and Morong. Blooms in August.

_Garcinia morella_, Desr.

Nom. Vulg.--I do not know the name given by the Filipinos to this tree, which Vidal and Soler have seen in Montalvan, Tiwi (Albay) and San Mateo (Province of Manila); but it is highly important in medicine as the true gamboge is obtained from it. _Gamboge Tree_, Eng.

The Gamboge of the U. S. P. and B. P. is obtained from _G. Hanburii_ which differs somewhat botanically from _G. morella_.

Uses.--All parts of the plant contain a thick, yellow, milky juice which const.i.tutes the gamboge. In Malabar, Ceylon, Canara and Singapore the following method of extraction is followed: At the beginning of the rainy season a spiral incision is made around the bark of about half the tree trunk, and a piece of bamboo is fixed in place to collect the juice which slowly exudes from the cut for several months, soon becoming viscid and then solid after contact with the air. One tree, as a rule, yields enough sap to fill three internodal segments of bamboo, each 50 cm. long by 3-5 cm. in diameter.

Gamboge is a laxative in doses of 10-15 cgm., produces abundant evacuations with violent colicky pains in doses of 30-50 cgm., and is an irritant poison in large doses. In other words it is a highly energetic hydragogue cathartic, especially indicated when we wish to drain off the fluid element of the blood, as in dropsy, asthma, pulmonary and cerebral congestion. It is also used as a vermifuge.

It is rarely given alone, but is combined with calomel, aloes, jalap, rhubarb, etc.

It is official in all pharmacopoeias.

Botanical Description.--A tree 10-20 meters high, with leaves opposite, elliptical, lanceolate, narrowed at both extremities, ac.u.minate, entire, coriaceous, glabrous, 10-12 cm. long by 3-4 cm. broad, with short petioles. Flowers dioecious. Male flower axillary, solitary or in groups of 3-6, pedunculate with small bracts. Calyx, 4 sepals. Corolla, 4 petals, orbicular, thick, fleshy. Stamens 30-40, sessile, adherent at the base. Anthers unilocular. Female flower sessile, solitary, axillary, larger than the male; calyx and corolla equal; staminodia 20-30, jointed at the base, forming a membranous corolla from the upper edge of which spring a few short filaments which support each a suboval sterile anther. The ovary is superior and almost spherical, with 4 cells each containing 1 ovule. The fruit, almost spherical, is 2 1/2 cm. in diameter, corticate, bearing at its base the persistent calyx; each of its 4 cells contains a seed.

_Ochrocarpus pentapetalous_, Blanco. (_Tovomita pentapetala_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Namakpakan_, _Tagudin_, Iloc. (?).

Uses.--An oil expressed from the fruit is used in Ilocos for illuminating purposes. The flowers are astringent and are used in infusion in cases of diarrhoea. The oil of the fruit is also used locally in rheumatism, tumefactions and other painful conditions. In some countries of Malaysia the oil is used in the same way especially in beriberi and the periarticular inflammations incident to puerperium.

Botanical Description.--Straight trunk about 8' in diameter, with milky sap. Leaves 1 1/2' long, sessile, opposite, ovate, expanded, minutely notched and glabrous, with a small downy swelling at the base, superior and glued to the branch. Flowers terminal, in racemes, with opposite pedicels. Calyx white, of 2 rounded leaflets bent downwards. Corolla white, 5 petals (not 4), oval, concave, twice as long as the calyx. Stamens numerous, joined to the receptacle. Filaments slightly longer than the corolla. Anthers oval, 2-celled. Ovary superior, oval. Style longer than the stamens. Stigma peltate, sometimes bilobed, sometimes 4-lobed. Fruit about the size of an acorn, oval, fleshy, containing a milky juice; it is 2-celled and each cell contains a solitary, hard seed; of these one aborts.

Habitat.--It grows near the sea. Blooms in December.

_Calophyllum Inophyllum_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Palo Maria_, Sp.-Fil.; _Bitanhol_, _Tamawian_, _Dankalan_, _d.i.n.kalin_, Tag.; _Dankalan Bitaog_, Vis., Pam., Bik.

Uses.--From the seeds of the fruit there exudes a yellowish-green oil, bitter and aromatic. It is used in some districts for illuminating purposes. Its density is 0.942 and its point of solidification 5 above zero. In India it is used by inunction in rheumatism and in the Philippines locally over the stomach in indigestion and colic. The bark of the tree when incised exudes a green resin of a very agreeable odor, which is used as an application to wounds and old sores. In India it is used in the same way. This resin is fusible and dissolves completely in alcohol. It has been mistaken for the _tacamahaca_ of India, which, however, is a product of the _C. calaba_, L. Mixed with equal parts of pitch and wax it is applied to the chest as a plaster in bronchitis. A decoction of the leaves is used for purulent ophthalmia in some parts of India and Mauritius. The pounded bark is applied locally in orchitis and epididymitis. We have had occasion to use a mixture of equal parts of the resin with white vaseline spread on linen and applied between the shoulder blades; in the persistent cough of senile bronchitis the relief was marked.

Botanical Description.--A large tree with beautiful, dark green leaves 4-5' long, opposite, entire, large, oval with nerves numerous, fine and perpendicular to the midrib. Petioles very short. Flowers large, white, sweet-scented, axillary, in racemes of 7-9. Calyx white, of 4 sepals. Corolla white, of 4 petals. Stamens numerous, polyadelphous. Ovary rudimentary in the male flower; unilocular and uniovulate in the female. Style single and large. Drupe superior, with a hard, bony pit, containing a thicker, softer substance which envelopes a seed of like consistency.

Habitat.--It is found in central Luzon and in the Provinces of Tayabas, La Union and Ilocos. Blooms in November.

_Mesua ferrea_, L. (_Calophyllum apetalum_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Malabukbuk_ (?), Tag.

Uses.--We do not know to what use the Filipinos put this plant, but in India the sweet flowers are dried and sold in the bazars under the name of _Nag-Kasar_ or _Nagesur_, which is used as a mild stimulant, but especially as a perfume.

A dark oil is expressed from the seeds, its density 0.954 and its solidifying point 5 above zero. In northern Canara it is used locally in rheumatism. The incised root bark exudes a resinous sap which is a good bitter tonic. The infusion of the wood is equally good. The dried flowers, finely powdered and mixed with oil or lard make a useful ointment for acute hemorrhoids. The fruit is acrid and purgative.

Botanical Description.--A tree with leaves long-petioled, oblong, lanceolate, ac.u.minate, rounded at the base, thick, coriaceous, upper surface l.u.s.trous, lower surface greenish or covered with a waxy, ash-colored powder. Flowers terminal or axillary, solitary, yellowish. Calyx 4 imbricated sepals, orbiculate, slightly p.u.b.escent. Corolla 4 persistent petals, wedge-shaped, short, with rounded points. Stamens indefinite, free, in 5-6 series. Ovary free, 2-celled, each cell containing 2 ovules. Style bilobed. Fruit nearly unilocular, ovate, ac.u.minate, encompa.s.sed at its base by the sepals, the lower part of the petals, and crowned by the style. Pericarp woody, dehiscent at the tip by 2-4 valves; contains 1-4 seeds, slightly orbiculate, coriaceous.

Habitat.--Common in the forests.

DIPTEROCARPEae.

_Dipterocarpus turbinatus_, Gaertn. (_D. Indicus_, Bedd.; _D. Mayapis_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Mayapis_, Tag.; _Gurjun_, _Kanyin_, Indo-Eng.

Uses.--This tree yields an oleo resin, used in medicine and known under the name of _balsamo de gurjun_. Other species of _Dipterocarpus_ (_D. alatus_, Roxb.; _D. inca.n.u.s_, Roxb.; _D. trinervis_, Bl., etc., etc.) produce the same substance. Balsam of Gurjun is a stimulant of the mucous membranes, especially those of the genito-urinary tract, and is diuretic. It is also indicated in bronchial catarrh and as a local application in ulcer. The first to recommend the use of gurjun as a subst.i.tute for copaiba was Sir W. O'Shaughnessy in 1838, and in 1852 this property was confirmed by Waring with highly satisfactory results. Dr. Enderson of Glasgow employed it in cases that received no benefit from copaiba, giving a teaspoonful t. i. d. in emulsion. Dr. Rean also cla.s.sed it as equal to copaiba in efficiency.

The daily dose ranges from 5-20 grams, in liquid or pill.

The following is an excellent formula for an emulsion: