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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 analysis. Its composition is as follows: Two coloring matters, bixin (C28H34O5), of a red color, resinous, soluble in alcohol, ether, alkaline solutions and benzine, crystallizing in microscopic laminæ, quadrangular, red, of a metallic violet lustre; 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 brushing 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 diœcious, 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 pubescent 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 placentæ with many ovules. Fruit as large as a man’s head, with thin woody pericarp and many seeds embedded within its pulp.

Portulacaceæ.

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 hæmoptysis 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.

Guttiferæ.

Gamboge Family.

Garcinia mangostana, L.

Nom. Vulg.—Mangostán, Sp.; Mangosteen, Eng.

Uses.—The seed of the fruit is astringent and is given internally as an infusion in dysentery and chronic diarrhœa. The decoction is very useful as an injection in leucorrhœa.

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

Dried peel of mangosteen 60 grams. Cumin 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 analysis of mangosteen peel by W. Schmidt demonstrated a large quantity of tannin, a resin and a crystallizable principle named mangostin (C20H23O5) which exists in the form of fine, golden yellow laminæ, 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 pulá in Tagalo and Taklag̃-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 Montalván, 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 constitutes 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 pharmacopœias.

Botanical Description.—A tree 10–20 meters high, with leaves opposite, elliptical, lanceolate, narrowed at both extremities, acuminate, entire, coriaceous, glabrous, 10–12 cm. long by 3–4 cm. broad, with short petioles. Flowers diœcious. 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 2½ 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 diarrhœa. 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 1½’ 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, Dinkalin, 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

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