The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera (good books for 7th graders TXT) đź“•
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Dr. Bholanauth Bose recommends the internal use of the juice of the leaves as a remedy for chronic diseases of the spleen; this treatment, however, has caused severe pain and is absolutely uncertain in effect.
In Concan the juice of the leaves is given mixed with food to animals in heat, for its anaphrodisiac action. The fresh or dried plant is given in decoction mixed with ginger in intermittent fevers.
If the ethereal tincture be evaporated a resinous residue remains that has not been studied, but appears to be the vesicant principle. This tincture should be made from the dried leaves to avoid hydration of the ether.
Botanical Description.—A small plant with stem red, straight, quadrate, ramose. Leaves opposite, lanceolate, and fringed with hairs. Flowers axillary, small, red, solitary. Peduncles short. Calyx inferior, bell-shaped, with 8-toothed border, the 4 alternate teeth larger. Corolla none. Nectary bell-shaped, surrounding the ovary, shorter than the calyx, with 4 toothlets which lengthening form the filaments of as many stamens. Anthers 4-celled. Ovary of 4 pluriovulate locules. Style almost wanting. Stigma fluted. Seed vessel glabrous, horizontally dehiscent, containing 15 or more angular seeds joined to a common axis.
Habitat.—It grows in the marshes of Mandaloyon.
Lawsonia alba, Lam. (L. spinosa, L.; L. inermis, Roxb.)
Nom. Vulg.—Cinamomo del paĂs (native cinnamon), Sp.-Fil.; Henna, Camphire, Samphire, Indo-Eng.
Uses.—This is a very popular plant in the Orient, for many races use its leaves to impart a reddish-yellow stain to the nails, finger tips and palms of the hands. There is a tradition among the Mohammedans that the Prophet once called this plant “the best of all herbs.” The leaf in form of a dry powder is sold in the bazars of India under the name of “henna”; mixed with water it gives it a yellow color, and when boiled the tone of the liquid becomes darker; the addition of an alkali turns it brown. In Persia they add indigo to this solution and use it as a hair dye.
The Hindoos apply the bruised leaves to the soles of the feet of small-pox patients, their purpose being to prevent the spread of the eruption to the eyes. They also use it locally in a disease known among them as “burning of the feet.” Grierson and Waring obtained good results in this disease by making a paste of the bruised leaves and vinegar; cases that resisted such treatment yielded completely to a brisk rubbing of the feet with a simple paste of the leaf. The decoction and the bruised leaves are also used locally for contusions.
The bark has been given in jaundice, hypertrophy of the spleen, calculi of various sorts, leprosy and stubborn skin diseases, as an alterative. In decoction it is applied to burns.
An English physician, Dr. Newton, made an extract of the leaves and flowers with which he pretended to cure leprosy; it was but one more useless drug in the long list used to combat that terrible disease. The dose of the extract is a teaspoonful daily, given in 2 doses.
The juice of the leaves is given in sweetened water in some countries as a remedy for spermatorrhœa.
The flowers are given in decoction for headache and the fruit is emmenagogue.
Botanical Description.—A small tree, about 12° high. Leaves opposite, lanceolate, broad, entire, glabrous and tough, the edges turned downwards. Flowers yellowish-white, terminal in racemose panicles with opposite peduncles. Calyx inferior, bell-shaped, 4 acute sepals. Corolla, 4 petals, longer than the calyx. Stamens 8, inserted by pairs on the segments of the calyx, alternating with and longer than the petals. Anther kidney-shaped. Ovary at the bottom of the calyx. Styles of the same length as the stamens. Stigma obtuse. Seed vessel a little larger than a pea, globose, 4 chambers, many seeds.
Habitat.—Common all over the Archipelago. Blooms in July.
Punica Granatum, L.
Nom. Vulg.—Granada, Sp. and Fil. dialects; Pomegranate, Eng.
Uses.—The decoction of the tender leaves is used as a gargle and wash in angina, aphthæ, and wounds within the buccal cavity.
The peel of the fruit is highly astringent and in decoction is a useful agent in treating chronic diarrhœa, and locally in injections of lotions for leucorrhœa and inflamed hæmorrhoids. It should not be given when rectal tenesmus exists. The Pharmacopœia of India contains the following formula for preparing the decoction of the peel:
Boil for 15 minutes in a covered vessel, cool, filter and add water enough to make a liter. Dose, 30–50 grams per diem.
This preparation is also used in astringent gargles and injections. For internal use the decoction is rendered more active by adding a small quantity of cloves or cinnamon. This mixture with the addition of opium gives excellent results in the treatment of diarrhœa among the natives of India and is highly recommended by Dr. Kirkpatrick.
The most important part of the pomegranate, however, is its root, the bark of which is a very efficient tænifuge and the most astringent portion of the plant. It should be used fresh, as drying destroys its activity and gives negative results. Many failures to expel the tænia are probably due to this fact. According to Béranger-Féraud the root gives 25% to 40% of cures, whereas pumpkin seeds give but 5% to 10%.
Decoction.—(French Codex.)
Macerate 6 hours, boil over slow fire till reduced to 500 grams. Strain. Administer fasting, in 3 doses half an hour apart. The evening before the patient should eat a light meal and take a cathartic in order that the intestinal canal may contain the smallest possible quantity of fæcal matter. After taking the third dose of the decoction the patient should take a mild purgative such as 30 grams of castor oil to expel the tænia. This preparation has a most disagreeable taste. It is better to give the “tannate of pelletierine,” a compound of tannin and one of the alkaloids that Tanret discovered in pomegranate root. A sufficient dose of tannate of pelletierine is 30–40 centigrams in wafer form, followed by a purge and with the other precautions and preparatory measures mentioned above. It causes toxic symptoms similar to those produced by curare, according to the experimental studies of Dujardin-Beaumetz and Rochenière. Its action is upon the ends of the motor nerves. A dose of 40 centigrams may cause in man such symptoms of intoxication as vertigo, inverted vision and muscular paralysis. Pelletierine should not be administered to children, but Béranger-Féraud states that the tannate may be safely given them, as follows:
A coffee-spoonful of this solution contains 0.03 gram of the tannate, and this quantity may be given to a child, in a little milk. If no symptoms supervene within one-half hour give another similar dose and so on up to 3 or 4 doses or .12 gm. in all. After the last dose give the purgative as a routine. It is certainly imprudent to trust the administration of such a drug to any one incapable of recognizing the symptoms of intoxication, and as no one but a physician can judge the effects of the alkaloid he himself should remain with the patient until the efficient dose has been absorbed. This is manifestly impractical and we therefore maintain that the alkaloid is not suited for the treatment of children.
An analysis of the root bark made by the French chemist Tanret revealed the presence of four alkaloids: pelletierine, isopelletierine (C8H15NO), pseudo-pelletierine (C9H15NO), and methylpeletierine (C9H17NO).
Botanical Description.—A shrub 6–9° high with branches terminating in thorns; some of the branches abort and form thorns. Leaves simple, oval, oblong, without stipules, with short petioles. Flowers axillary, solitary or in pauciflorous cymes. Calyx, 4–8 sepals, persistent, fleshy, yellow or red. Corolla, 4–8 petals, imbricated. Stamens numerous, free. Style 1. Stigma thick. Fruit with leathery rind, about size of small apple, packed with seeds, each imbedded in a small amount of crisp, juicy pulp.
Evening Primrose Family.
Jussiæa suffruticosa, L. (J. villosa, Lam.; J. erecta, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.—Malapoko, Tag.
Uses.—The entire plant reduced to a pulp and mixed with milk is used in India to treat dysentery. Ainslie states that the decoction is employed as a vermifuge and purgative.
Botanical Description.—An herb with square stem, leaves alternate, lanceolate, nearly entire, glabrous. Flowers axillary, yellow, solitary. Calyx of 4–5 lobules. Corolla, 4 lanceolate petals inserted between the divisions of the calyx. Stamens 8, of these 4 alternate being shorter. Ovary very long, inferior, with 4 many-ovuled locules. Style the same length as the stamens. Stigma 4-lobuled. Seed vessels very long, with faint longitudinal ridges, crowned by the remains of the calyx, 4 pluriovulate locules.
Habitat.—In the arable fields and along the banks of rivers. Blooms in January and March.
Passion Flower Family.
Carica Papaya, L.
Nom. Vulg.—Papaya, in many Phil. dialects; Papaya, Papaw, Eng.
Uses.—The decoction of the leaves is used locally in sores and atonic ulcers, followed by a poultice of the boiled and mashed leaves. The natives use the cold infusion of the leaves to wash clothes spotted with blood and the spots disappear rapidly by virtue of the ferment papain which digests the fibrin. The infusion is also very useful as a wash for sores and gangrenous ulcers, modifying their appearance very rapidly.
Before proceeding further it is desirable to give a description of papain, a digestive ferment which exists throughout the whole plant, fruit, trunk, leaves and petioles; it is contained in the milky juice which exudes from all these parts when cut. This juice was studied simultaneously by Wurtz in France and Peckolt in Brazil. The best method of collecting it is to make several superficial, longitudinal incisions in the green fruit without removing it from the tree; immediately an abundance of juice appears in the incisions and coagulates rapidly. The best time to do this is the early morning. The fruit does not suffer by this process but continues developing and ripens perhaps more rapidly, at the same time improving in flavor, becoming sweeter; the seeds, however, atrophy and lose their power of germination. Peckolt gives the following as the composition of the juice:
The milky juice is neutral and coagulates rapidly, separating in two parts: a kind of insoluble pulp and a limpid colorless serum. If combined with fibrin, raw meat, white of egg or gluten it gradually softens them and completely dissolves them in 3 or 4 hours in vitro at 40° C. Combined with milk it coagulates it and soon precipitates the casein which is also dissolved a little later. It digests lumbricoids and tape-worms and the false membrane of croup, in a few hours. According to Wurtz and Bouchut papain is prepared as follows:
The fluid juice or the aqueous solution of the milky exudate is precipitated by the addition of ten times the volume of alcohol. The precipitate, after treating again with concentrated alcohol,
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