The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines, Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera [book club suggestions TXT] 📗

Vervain Family.

Lippia nodiflora, Rich. (Verbena nodiflora, L.; V. capitata, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.—Tsatsatsatsahan, Chachachachahan, Tag.

Uses.—The Filipinos drink an infusion of the leaves in place of tea, the long Tagalog name meaning “resembling tea.” In India they drink the hot infusion to aid digestion. In some places the decoction of the leaves is given internally as an emollient and diuretic for gonorrhœa.

Botanical Description.—A small plant with creeping stem taking root where it touches the ground, obscurely angular, covered with short down. Leaves opposite, smooth, clasping the stem, inversely ovate, serrate only above, slightly downy. Flowers white, slightly purplish, axillary on a common peduncle, in a rough conical head. Corolla somewhat bowed, funnel-form, gaping, throat narrow, limb 4-lobed, one lobe shorter than the rest. Stamens 4, 2 longer. Filament almost wanting. Anthers 4, fertile. Ovary superior, style very short. Stigma semi-globose. Fruit, 2 seeds covered by the pellicle of the ovary.

Habitat.—Very common in the rice fields.

Tectona grandis, L.

Nom. Vulg.—Teca, Sp.; Tikla, Tag.; Dalondón, Yate, Kalayati, Vis.; Teak Tree, Eng.

Uses.—The powdered wood made into a paste with water is undoubtedly a useful application in acute dermatitis, especially that due to contact with the caustic oleo-resin of the cashew nut (Anacardium). A decoction of the powder gives good results as a gargle for aphthæ, gingivitis, and other inflammations within the buccal cavity. In India they give internally 6–12 grams as a vermifuge, and for dyspepsia with “heartburn.”

The flowers are diuretic according to Endlicher; the bark is astringent; the leaves and the seeds are purgative, the latter yielding an oil which they use in India to stimulate the growth of the hair. Gibson considers the seeds diuretic and quotes two cases where abundant diuresis immediately followed by the application of a poultice of the bruised seeds over the pubis. In Concan they make a sort of extract from the wood and apply it to the yoke sores of the cattle to prevent the growth of maggots. This disinfectant action marks the plant as worthy of further experiment.

Rumphius is authority for the statement that the infusion of the leaves is used in cholera. The Chinese make vessels of the wood to preserve their drinking water at sea; the first and second waters are bitter and are thrown away, but after that the water has no disagreeable taste and is said to aid digestion.

It has been said that the wood was poisonous because at one time several workmen died from the effects of wounds caused by splinters of the wood, but the statement has not been confirmed by later cases and the deaths were most probably due to a septic infection independent of the chemical composition of the splinters.

R. Romanis has extracted a resin from the wood by alcohol; it is soft, and on distillation yields a crystalline body called by the author tectoquinon (C18H10O2), on account of its resemblance to the quinons. It melts at 171° and volatilizes slightly at ordinary temperature.

Botanical Description.—A tree with leaves almost round, oval, entire, 30–60 centimeters by 20–40, the under surface covered with hoary down. Petioles very short, flattened. Flowers in panicles. Primary peduncle square. Calyx inferior, bell-shaped, very large when ripe, 5-cleft. Corolla white, longer than calyx, covered with a mealy substance, bell-shaped, 5-lobed. Stamens 5 or 6, inserted in the corolla. Filaments flattened, somewhat longer than the corolla. Anthers semi-globose, a yellow zone below and a black circle above. Ovary free, rounded, 4 locules each with 1 seed. Style same length as stamens. Stigma bilobulate. Drupe globose, woolly, spongy, depressed, covered by the membranous inflated calyx; contains one nut, very hard, 4 apartments each containing one seed.

Habitat.—The mountains of Morong and Tanay (of La Laguna Province) bear some specimens. Very common in the island of Negros and in Mindanao. It also grows in the Visayas, Mindora and Paragua. Blooms in September.

Vitex trifolia, L. (V. repens, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.—Lagundi, Tag.; Gapasgapas, Vis.; Dangla, Iloc.

Vitex Negundo, L. (V. Leucoxylon, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.—Lagundi, Malawin, Tag.

Uses.—Both species are used medicinally in the Philippines and both enjoy high repute. A variety of the first that seems to possess the same virtues is the V. repens, Blanco, called lagundig̃ gapag̃ by the Tagalos.

V. trifolia is regarded in India as the most powerful species and Bontius has extolled it highly, calling attention to the anodyne, diuretic and emmenagogue properties of the leaves. These are very effective applied in fomentation to rheumatic joints and their use is extensive both in India and the Malay Archipelago. A decoction of the leaves is used locally and as a vapor-bath in the treatment of beriberi. A large earthen pot is filled with leaves and water and brought to a boil; the pot is then placed under a chair in which the patient sits enveloped in a sheet or blanket. If necessary the pot may be removed 2 or 3 times, heated and replaced until abundant sweating is induced. An apparatus to conduct the steam under the chair would be much handier, but it is unsafe to place a small stove or lamp under the chair for fear of setting fire to the cloth.

In India and the Philippines there is a peculiar inflammation localized in the soles of the feet and characterized by an intense burning rather than pain, not described in the textbooks, but called by the natives “burning of the feet” (“quemadura del pié” or “ignipedites”); in our own experience and according to the consensus of the physicians of India, the application of these leaves 3 or 4 times a day to the soles of the feet has afforded marked relief. The leaves are heated in an earthen pot without the addition of water, and when sufficiently hot are applied and held in place by a bandage.

Dr. W. Ingledew states that the natives of Mysore (south of India) treat rheumatism and febrile catarrhs by steam baths of the decoction of vitex. A decoction of the leaves is in common use in the Philippines, Malay Islands and India as a bath for women in the puerperal state.

The dry leaves are smoked for headache and catarrh. According to creditable authority the application of the heated leaves in orchitis produces good results. The root is tonic, febrifuge and expectorant and the fruit nervine and emmenagogue according to the Sanscrit writer.

Botanical Description.—V. trifolia is a small tree, 3–4 meters high. The fruit and leaves are said to emit the odor of rosemary. Leaves ternate. Leaflets oval, entire, hoary below, no secondary petioles. Flowers purplish in forked panicle. Corolla bell-shaped with palate. The lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe larger; upper lip smaller, 2-lobed. Stamens 4, free, didynamous. Ovary free. Style simple, with stigma-bearing lobules. Berry-like drupe, with 4-celled nut, one seed in each cell.

Habitat.—Common on the seashore. Blooms in June.

The V. Negundo is a small tree like the preceding, but when it grows in the forest it develops to a tree of the first order, yielding a valuable building wood called molave (Sp.) or more properly molawin. Leaves compound with 5 leaflets. Secondary petioles short. Flowers in dichotomous panicle. Fruit like that of the foregoing species.

Clerodendron infortunatum, L. (C. fortunatum, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.—Kasupag̃it, Gubat, Tag.; Salig̃-wak, Vis.

Uses.—The fresh juice of the leaves is used in India as a vermifuge, according to K. L. Dey; it is also used as a bitter tonic in malarial fever, especially of children. As a tonic and antipyretic it is certainly worthy of recommendation.

Dr. Bholanauth Bose calls attention to this plant as a good substitute for Ophelia chirata, DC. as a tonic and antipyretic.

The infusion of the bruised leaves (10 grams to water 300 cc.) is given up to 200 cc. a day in 3 or 4 doses; the tincture (leaves 60 grams, alcohol 90 %, 500 cc.) is given up to 10 grams a day in 5 or 6 doses.

Botanical Description.—A shrub with nearly round stem; leaves opposite, ovate, oblong; acute, entire, slightly downy. Flowers terminal in umbellate panicles, the umbellets opposite and each bearing 3 flowerets. Calyx bluish, long, tubular, somewhat expanded in the middle, divided in 5 parts. Corolla twice as long as the calyx, tube filiform, limb 5-lobed. Stamens didynamous, their lower parts grown to the tube of the corolla. Filaments longer than the corolla. Ovary conical. Style of same length as the stamens. Stigma bifid. Berry dry, quadrate, depressed, the shell hard, 4 grooves, 4 cells, each containing a seed.

Habitat.—Very common in Manila and in the forests.