The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Part 15

Botanical Description.--A tree, 4-6 meters high, with drooping limbs; leaves long, very narrow, abruptly pinnate; many caducous leaflets, linear, elliptical. Flowers large, white, fragrant, in axillary racemes. Calyx bell-shaped with two indistinct lips. Corolla papilionaceous, white. Standard oval, a slight notch at the apex. Wings almost as large as the keel which is strongly arched. Stamens 10, diadelphous. Anthers uniform. Style and stamens equally long. Stigma a small head. Pod 1-2 long, linear, 4-sided, containing many oval seeds, separated by filamentous part.i.tions.

Habitat.--Grows in all sections of Luzon and Panay.

_Abrus precatorius_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Saga_, _Sagamamin_, _Bangati_, Tag.; _Bangati Gikosgikos_, Vis.; _Kanaasaga_, Pam.; _Bugayon_, Iloc.; _Jequiriti_, _Prayerbeads_, Eng.

Uses.--The part of the plant most important in therapeutics is the seed, the size of a small pea, bright red with a black spot, hard and shining. The Filipino children use them to make rosaries and other decorations. In the distant past the Filipinos used these seeds to weigh gold, a practice followed even to-day by the Hindoos. The famous Susrutas, author of the "Ayur Veda," recommends them internally for nervous diseases; modern therapeutics, however, limits their use to one disease, though that is frequent and stubborn enough, namely chronic granular conjunctivitis.

Some physicians state that these seeds are poisonous and others the contrary, but the fact that they are used as food among the poor cla.s.ses of Egypt, demonstrates their harmlessness in the digestive tract at least; when introduced into the circulation they undoubtedly exercise a toxic effect. We have already mentioned that their use is limited nowadays to the therapeutics of the eye; the decoction of the seeds known in Europe under the name of "Jaqueriti"--so named in Brazil--produces a purulent inflammation of the healthy conjunctiva and it is precisely this counter-irritant effect which makes it useful in chronic granular conjunctivitis, the persistence of which has defied the most heroic measures of therapeutics. The French oculist, Dr. de Wecker, was the first to employ jequirity for this purpose, in the form of a 24 hours' maceration of the seeds, 10 grams to 500 grams of water. It is necessary to use a product recently prepared and with this several applications a day are made. It is now known that the inflammation of the healthy conjunctiva is not caused by germ-life contained in the solution but by an inorganic ferment discovered by Bruylans and Venneman and named jequiritin; they state that it is produced during the germination of the seeds or of the cells in the powdered seeds. Warden and Waddell, of Calcutta, have isolated an essential oil, an acid named "abric" and an amorphous substance called abrin, obtained by precipitation with alcohol from a watery infusion of the pulverized seeds. Its action is identical with that of "jequiritin."

The infusion appears to possess considerable value as a stimulating application to indolent ulcers.

The root is a good subst.i.tute for licorice, is emollient and has an agreeable taste. The extract is useful in catarrhal diseases of the bronchi and in dysuria. The leaves contain the same properties as the root and an extract prepared from them is used as a subst.i.tute for licorice.

Botanical Description.--A vine, with leaves opposite, abruptly pinnate, a stylet taking the place of the terminal leaflet. Leaflets linear, entire, glabrous, tipped with a small point. Common petiole with 2 awl-shaped stipules at the base. Flowers in small racemes. Calyx gamosepalous, caducous, 4-5 short teeth. Corolla papilionaceous, wings horizontal. Stamens 9, monadelphous with bilocular anthers. Style very short. Stigma globose. Pod 4-5 cm. long, truncate at the ends, with 5-6 red seeds, each with a black spot.

Habitat.--Common in all mountainous regions of the islands. Grows near houses and roads.

_Mucuna pruriens_, DC. (_M. prurita_, Hook.; _M. utilis_, Wall.; _Dolichos pruriens_, L.; _Carpopogon pruriens_, Roxb.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Nipay_, _Lipay_, Vis.

Uses.--The pods are official as an anthelmintic in the Pharmacopoeia of India. They are used in the form of an electuary triturated to the proper consistency with honey or syrup. The dose for adults is one soupspoonful, and for children a teaspoonful, given every morning for 3-4 consecutive days. The last day a purge is given to expel the lumbricoids.

Botanical Description.--A vine with ternate leaves. Flowers red, keel larger than the standard and wings. Pods about as thick as the little finger, lacking transverse grooves, curved in the form of the letter f, covered with bright red down, which causes an unendurable itching. They are divided into 3 or 4 oblique cells each containing a brown, shiny seed.

Habitat.--Luzon and Panay.

_Erythrina Indica_, Lam. (_E. corallodendron_, L.; _E. carnea_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Dapdap_, _Kasindik_, Tag.; _Dapdap_, _Kabrab_, Vis.; _Dapdap_, _Sulbang_, Pam.; _Indian Coral Tree_, Eng.

Uses.--This tree is well known on account of the beauty of its crimson flowers. The decoction of the leaves is a useful cleansing and deodorizing application for ulcers. The bruised leaves are used locally in painful affections of the joints and to abort syphilitic buboes and abscesses of all kinds. The juice of the tender leaves is used in Concan to destroy maggots in ulcers, and the powder has a similar use. A decoction is used locally in ophthalmia.

The root and the leaves are used as a febrifuge in the Philippines and in India, according to Wight. In Brazil the bark is given in small repeated doses as a hypnotic and in the Philippines as a diuretic and purgative; a decoction of the leaves is similarly used. The bark contains an alkaloid discovered by Rochefontaine and Rey, called _erythrin_, which acts upon the central nervous system, diminishing its normal functions even to the point of abolishment, without modifying motor excitability or muscular contractility. W. Young isolated a glucoside, _migarrhin_, similar to saponin, but possessing the additional property of dilating the pupil.

In bronchitis with dyspnoea the following infusion of bark is very useful:

Fresh bark, } Freshly bruised leaves, } aa 2 grams.

Water 1,500 grams.

Boil till reduced one-half, filter and add:

Simple syrup 200 grams.

Dose: Winegla.s.sful every two hours.

Botanical Description.--A large tree, 20 high, th.o.r.n.y, with ternate leaves. Leaflets rhomboid, broad, entire, glabrous. Secondary petioles: that of the middle leaflet long, bearing 2 glands, those of the others short, bearing 1 gland each. The leaves fall at the end of the rainy season and the flowers bloom. They are a handsome scarlet color, large, in terminal racemes. Calyx half-cylindrical, oblique, truncate, entire. Corolla papilionaceous; standard elongated, lanceolate. Wings short. Keel very short, 2-lobuled. Stamens diadelphous. Anthers large. Ovary woolly. Stigma thick. Pod curved, rounded, furrowed in parts corresponding to the seeds which are numerous, oval, pointed at the ends.

Habitat.--Common throughout the islands. Blooms in February.

_c.l.i.toria ternatea,_ L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Kolokanting_, _Pakingang_, Tag.; _Kolokating_, Vis.; _b.u.t.terfly-pea_, Eng.

Uses.--The pounded seeds mixed with oil are used locally for painful joints. They possess purgative and emetic properties and Dr. J. Shartt has employed a mixture of the powdered roasted seeds, 8 grams, with double the quant.i.ty of acid tartrate of pota.s.sium. Its action is gentle, but sure. The alcoholic extract of the root, a soft, brown, resinous substance with an odor recalling that of jalap, is a very active cathartic, producing sharp effects in doses of 30-60 centigrams; in fact it produces such severe tenesmus that its use in such doses should not be recommended.

The root bark is used internally in an infusion (4-8 grams to 1 liter of water) as an emollient in irritability of the bladder and urethra and has been recommended for such a purpose by Mooden Sheriff. It is a diuretic which frequently acts as a purgative, a fact that is not surprising in view of the above-mentioned properties of the alcoholic extract.

The roasted seeds used as a purgative are so trustworthy that they deserve the further attention of physicians.

Botanical Description.--A vine very well known by its blue flowers. Leaves alternate with 3 pairs of oval leaflets. Stipules persistent. Flowers axillary, solitary, 1-1 1/2' in long diameter. Calyx in 5 acute divisions, the two upper ones smaller. Corolla papilionaceous. Standard open, notched at the end. Keel shorter than the wings and covered by them. Stamens 10, 9 united and 1 free. Stigma downy, thick. Pod full of short hairs, with more than 6 surrounded with a tow-like substance, reniform, with black spots.

Habitat.--Common along the roads and in gardens. Flowers in July and November.

_1. Pterocarpus santalinus_, L. [5]

Nom. Vulg.--_Narra_, _Naga_, Tag.; _Apalit_, _Daytanag_, Pam.; _Red Saunders_ or _Red Sandalwood Tree_, Eng.

_2. P. Indicus,_ Willd. (_P. pallidus_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Asana_, Tag.; _Naga_, Vis.

_3. P. erinaceus_, Poir. (_P. echinatus_, Pers. & DC.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Asana_, _Narra_, Tag.

Uses.--The wood of the first is the so-called "red sandalwood." It is used for building purposes and, in medicine, as an astringent. In decoction it is used as a gargle for sore throat. The second is also an excellent building material and is used medicinally for its astringent properties. A decoction of sufficient strength to color the water a light blue is used as a mouth wash in toothache and has some reputation as a solvent of vesical calculi. All three species yield a resin known in pharmacy under the name of "kino." The true gum kino is really produced by the _P. marsupium_, Roxb., but the Philippine product, especially that of the second and third species, has for a long time been exported to Europe under the name of "red astringent gum" or "kino." This name is given to the sap of these trees dried without the aid of artificial heat. The bark is the part which produces it and the following extractive process is employed in Madras: a vertical incision is made in the trunk and lateral incisions perpendicular to it and a receptacle is placed at the foot of the tree. This soon fills and when the gum is sufficiently dried by air and sun it is packed in boxes and exported.

In respect to appearance, solubility and chemical composition, Fluckiger and Hanbury were unable to discover any difference between the kino of _P. marsupium_, Roxb., and that of _P. erinaceus_, Poir. It is therefore interesting to consider a product that is identical with that described in the pharmacopoeias as produced by the _P. marsupium_, Roxb., though the latter does not grow in the Philippines.

Kino is at present used but little in therapeutics and its action is a.n.a.logous to that of tannin and catechu. It is given internally for its astringent effect in chronic diarrhoea, leucorrhoea, blenorrhoea and hemorrhages. The dose of the powder is 1-4 grams, and of the alcoholic tincture, containing 20 parts kino to 100 of alcohol, 5-10 grams. In prolapse of the r.e.c.t.u.m and a.n.a.l fissure the following solution is used by enema:

Kino 3 grams.