The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines, Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera [book club suggestions TXT] 📗
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The infusion appears to possess considerable value as a stimulating application to indolent ulcers.
The root is a good substitute 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 substitute 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 Pharmacopœia 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, Sulbag̃, 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 dyspnœa the following infusion of bark is very useful:
Boil till reduced one-half, filter and add:
Dose: Wineglassful every two hours.
Botanical Description.—A large tree, 20° high, thorny, 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.
Clitoria ternatea, L.
Nom. Vulg.—Kolokantig̃, Pakingag̃, Tag.; Kolokatig̃, Vis.; Butterfly-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 quantity of acid tartrate of potassium. 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, 1–1½′ 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, Flückiger 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 pharmacopœias 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 analogous to that of tannin and catechu. It is given internally for its astringent effect in chronic diarrhœa, leucorrhœa, blenorrhœa 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 rectum and anal fissure the following solution is used by enema:
For vaginal injections a solution of 20 to 250 water.
Botanical Description.—The “pterocarpus,” L., is a tree of the first order with odd-pinnate leaves. Leaflets alternate and coriaceous. Flowers yellow, in racemes, with caducous bracts and bractlets. Calyx turbinate, with short teeth. Petals exserted, markedly unguiculate. Standard and wings curled. Keel obtuse with its petals slightly or not at all coherent. The staminal tube, cleft above and below or above only. Stamens superior, often almost, and at times entirely, free. Anthers versatile. Ovary pedunculate, with 2 ovules. Style curved. Stigma terminal. Pod orbicular, smooth or spiny, usually containing one seed, encircled by a broad, rigid wing, the point curved downward.
Habitat.—In the mountains of Luzon, Panay and Mindoro. Blooms in March.
Pongamia glabra, Vent. (Robinia mitis, L.; Gadelupa maculata, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.—Balikbalik, Tag.; Butog̃, Vis.
Uses.—The oil expressed from the seeds is used in India for lighting purposes, and in addition is of notable therapeutic value. It is an excellent local remedy for the itch, for herpes and especially for pityriasis versicolor, used alone or emulsified with lemon juice. In stubborn cases Dymock recommends the addition of oil of hydrocarpus, camphor and powdered sulphur. Dr. Gibson states that he knows of no plant in the vegetable kingdom possessing more notable curative properties in itch, herpes and other cutaneous diseases than the plant under consideration. It is also used as an embrocation in articular rheumatism.
The powdered leaves mixed with common salt and pepper are given internally with a little milk, as a remedy for leprosy.
The juice of the root makes a useful wash for gangrenous ulcers and a good injection for fistula.
Botanical Description.—A tree, 18° high, with leaves opposite, odd-pinnate. Leaflets in 3 pairs, ovate, lanceolate, entire, glabrous and membranaceous. Flowers slightly spotted, racemose. Calyx bell-shaped, with 5 scarcely visible toothlets. Corolla papilionaceous, petals equal, clawed. Standard with 2 callosities athwart the base. Stamens 10, diadelphous. Pod with one seed, which is flat, smooth, veined, bright red.
Habitat.—Luzon and Panay. Blooms in October.
Brasiletto Family.
Cæsalpinia Bonducella, Flem. (Guilandina Bonducella, L.)
Nom. Vulg.—Bayag-Kambig̃, Kalambibit, Tag.; Dalugdug, Vis.; Fever Nut, Physic Nut, Bonduc Seeds, Indo-Eng.
Uses.—The seed is the part of the plant employed and is official in the Pharmacopœia of India. It is used as a tonic and antiperiodic in intermittent fevers and in general where tonic treatment is indicated. It has given good results in the malarial fevers of India, according to English physicians. The Pharmacopœia of India contains the following preparation under the
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