indolent sores. The flowers boiled in milk are used to relieve the
pain of earache (Blanco), the warm milk being dropped into the external
canal. The powdered bark in dose of 3 grams is emetic(?) (Blanco).
Botanical Description.--A small tree 6-12° high with leaves 4-6' long,
alternate, 7-nerved, cleft at the base, abruptly acute, scalloped,
pubescent. Petioles long. Flowers axillary, in panicles of very small
flowerets. Calyx double, the outer portion divided into 8-9 teeth,
the inner into 5 longer parts. Stamens numerous, inserted about a
column. Style 1. Stigmas 5. Ovary of 5 cells, each containing 2 seeds.
Habitat.--Abounds in all parts of the islands.
_Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis, L._
Nom. Vulg.--_Takurangan_, _Aronganan_, _Kayanga_, _Tapulanga_,
_Gumamila_, Tag., Vis., Pam.; _Rose of China_, Eng.
Uses.--The flowers are emollient and are widely used by the Filipinos
as a domestic remedy; they are bruised and applied to boils, tumors
and all sorts of inflammations. The decoction is much used internally
in bronchial catarrh for its sudorific effect.
The Chinese use the trunk bark as an emmenagogue, calling it
Fu-yong-pi.
Botanical Description.--A small tree about 7° high commonly called
_Gumamela_ in Manila; the leaves are ovate, acute, with about 5 nerves,
serrate from the middle to the apex, hairs growing sparsely on both
surfaces, with a small group of dark-colored, deciduous hairs growing
on the lower part of the midrib. Petioles short with 2 stipules at
the base. Calyx double, the outer part divided almost to the base
into 6-8 parts; the inner cylindrical, divided in 5. Corolla large,
splendid scarlet-red, often double, on slender peduncles. Styles
numerous. Fruit identical with that of the _Hibiscus tiliaceus_.
Habitat.--Universally common in the Philippines.
_Thespesia populnea_, Corr.
Nom. Vulg.--_Babuy_ or _Bobuy gubat_, Tag.; _Bulakan_, Vis.
Uses.--The fruit yields a yellow juice which is used locally in
the itch and other cutaneous troubles, after first washing the
affected part with a decoction of the roots and leaves. The bark is
astringent and is used as a decoction in the treatment of dysentery
and hemorrhoids.
Botanical Description.--A tree of the second order with leaves 4-5'
long, sparse, 5-nerved, heart-shaped, broad, acute, entire, glabrous,
6 small glands on the lower face of the base. Petioles of equal length
with the leaves. Flowers large, axillary, solitary. Calyx double,
the outer portion deciduous, consisting of 3 small, acute leaflets
inserted on the base of the inner calyx; the inner is bell-shaped,
larger than the outer, with 5 inconspicuous, persistent teeth. Corolla
four times longer than the calyx, of 5 fleshy, fluted petals, their
borders overlapping, much broader above. Stamens very numerous,
arranged around and along a column. Filaments long. Anthers of
half-moon shape. Style 1, very thick. Stigma cleft in 5 parts, which
are twisted in spiral form. Seed vessels about the size of a filbert,
5-sided, with 5 apartments each containing 5 ovoid seeds attached
by separate seed stalks to the central axis of the ovary. Seeds
not woolly.
Habitat.--Mandaloya Tayabas, Iloilo.
_Gossypium herbaceum_, L. (_G. Indicum_, Lam.; _G. Capas_, Rumph.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Algodón_, Sp.; _Bulak_, Tag.; _Cotton_, Eng.
Uses.--The root bark is antiasthmatic, emmenagogue, and according
to Daruty [4] is a substitute for ergot in uterine hemorrhage. The
leaves are used in bronchial troubles and the seeds are sudorific. The
negroes in the United States use the root bark in large doses as an
abortifacient; but a dose of 60 grams to 1,200 of water in decoction
is proper and useful in treating dysmenorrhoea.
For a long time the seeds went to waste but industry has learned to
obtain from them a brownish-red oil which is used as a substitute for
olive oil, from which it is hard to distinguish it, if the latter
is adulterated by mixing the two; for both have the same density
and a very similar odor and taste. For this reason the production
of cottonseed oil is very considerable nowadays. It is cheap and
excellent for domestic, industrial and pharmaceutic use.
The seeds are used in North America in dysentery and as a galactagogue,
and the juice of the leaves as an emollient in diarrhoea and mild
dysentery. The pulp of the seeds, after the oil is extracted, yields
a sweet material called _gossypose_, which is dextrogyrous and has
the formula C_18_H_32_O_16_ + 5H_2_O.
The cotton itself, the part used in commerce as a textile, is also the
portion of the plant most widely employed in therapeutics; not only
the fiber from this species is used, but also that of others that grow
in the Philippines, the _G. Barbadense_, L. (nom. vulg. _Pernambuko_,
Tag.), and the _G. arboreum_, L. (_Bulak na bundok_, _Bulak na totoo_,
Tag.).
Cotton is used extensively in bacteriological laboratories as a
filter of liquids and gases. This property possessed by cotton,
of retaining in its fibers the germs of the air was utilized by
the famous French surgeon Guérin in the treatment that bears his
name. The denuded surfaces exposed to infection by airborne bacteria
are completely protected against them when, according to the Guérin
treatment, they are enveloped in large masses of fresh, raw cotton,
presumably free from microörganisms. To avoid the possibility of
infection by the cotton itself, it is now the practice to sterilize
it either by means of chemicals such as carbolic acid, iodoform,
etc., or by physical means such as high temperatures.
Raw cotton is used in compounding gun cotton or explosive cotton, also
named _pyroxylin_, and this is used to make collodion, so extensively
employed in medicine.
Pyroxylin is made by treating cotton with equal parts of nitric and
sulphuric acids, then washing with water till the latter ceases to
give a precipitate with chloride of baryta; then dry in the air.
Collodion is made by dissolving 5 grams of pyroxylin in the following
mixture:
Sulphuric ether, rectified 75 grams.
Alcohol at 95° 20 grams.
Filter.
Elastic collodion:
Canada Balsam 1.50 grams.
Castor oil .50 grams.
Collodion 30.00 grams.
Mix.
Botanical Description.--A plant 2-3° high, of herbaceous stem, branches
sparsely covered with small, black points; leaves cleft at their base,
with 5 lobules and a small gland on the midrib. Petiole long with
2 stipules at the base. Flowers axillary, solitary. Calyx double;
the outer portion divided in 3 parts, heart-shaped, and each with
5-9 long, acute teeth. Corolla bell-shaped, of 5 petals, pale yellow
or turning rose color, purple at the base. Stamens many, inserted
on a column. Stigma in 4-5 parts. Ovary of 3-5 compartments. Seeds
enveloped in the fiber.
Habitat.--Batangas, Ilocos.
_Bombax malabaricum_, DC. (_B. Ceiba_, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Taglinaw_, _Bobuy gubat_, Tag.; _Talutu_, Vis.
Uses.--In India the roots are used to obtain an astringent and
alterative effect and form part of a well-known aphrodisiac mixture
called _Musla-Samul_. If the trunk is incised, an astringent gum exudes
and this they use in diarrhoea, dysentery and menorrhagia. Dose of
the gum 2 1/2-3 grams.
Botanical Description.--A large tree covered with sharp, conical
and tough spines. Leaves alternate, compound, digitate, caducous;
leaflets 5-7 with long common petiole. Flowers solitary or in axillary
cymes, hermaphrodite, regular. Calyx gamosepalous, cup-shaped, with
5 acute lobules. Corolla violet, with 5 deep clefts; æstivation
convolute. Stamens numerous, united at the base in 5 bundles,
free above, bearing unilocular anthers. Ovary of 5 many-ovulate
compartments, with a style ending in 5 short branches. Capsule woody,
ovoid, loculicidal, with 5 valves. Seeds numerous, black, covered
with cottony fibers.
Habitat.--Angat, Iloilo. Blooms in February.
_Eriodendron anfractuosum_, DC. (_Bombax pentandrum_, L.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Boboy_, Tag.; _Doldol_, Vis.; _Bulak kastila_, Pam.
Uses.--The principal use made of this plant in the Philippines is to
stuff the pillows with the cotton that it yields. The leaves, pounded
with a little water, yield a mucilaginous juice highly prized by the
natives as a wash for the hair, mixing it with _gogo_. The root bark
is emetic in dose of 1.25 grm. The cotton yielded by this tree should
be used for the same therapeutic purposes as that of gossypium, and
being of an exceedingly fine fiber it would give better results. The
Filipinos use it to treat burns and sores. I have often used it,
being careful always to impregnate it thoroughly with some antiseptic
solution. In the treatment of burns it has been my custom to envelope
the part in a thick layer of this cotton, after bathing it with a
tepid 1-2,000 solution of corrosive sublimate and dusting with a very
fine powder of boracic acid.
Botanical Description.--A tree 40-50° high. Trunk somewhat thorny, the
branches horizontal, arranged in stars of 3-4. Leaves compound with
7 leaflets, lanceolate, entire, glabrous. Flowers in umbels of 8 or
more flowerets. No common peduncle, the individual ones long. Calyx,
5 obtuse sepals, slightly notched. Corolla, 5 fleshy petals, obtusely
lanceolate and bent downwards. Stamens 5. Anthers of irregular shape,
peltate, with the borders deeply undulate. Stigma in 5 parts. Pod 4-6'
long, spindle-shaped. Seeds enveloped in very fine cotton fiber.
Habitat.--Exceedingly common in all parts of the islands. Blooms
in December.
STERCULIACEÆ.
Sterculia Family.
_Sterculia foetida_, L. (_S. polyphilla_, R. Br.; _Clompanus major_,
Rumph.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Kalumpang_, Tag.; _Bangar_, Iloc.
Uses.--A decoction of the leaves is used as a wash in suppurative
cutaneous eruptions. The fruit is astringent and is used in Java as
an injection for gonorrhoea. In western India and in the Philippines
it is an article of diet. The seeds yield an oil that is used for
illumination and as a comestible.
Botanical Description.--A large tree of the first order with digitate
leaves of 6-8 leaflets, broad, oval, very acute, tough, glabrous,
growing on a long common petiole. No petiole proper. Flowers of a
foetid or feculent odor, hermaphrodite, in compound racemes. Calyx
fleshy, soft pubescent internally, bell-shaped, in 5 parts. Corolla
none. Nectary 5-toothed, on the end of a small column. Stamens
15, inserted on the border of the nectary by threes, forming a
triangle. Filament almost entirely wanting. In the midst of the stamens
is visible a small, hairy body of 5 lobules which are the rudiments of
the ovaries. The style protrudes and twists downwards. Stigma thick,
compressed, of 5 lobules. Fruit, five woody pods, semicircular,
joined to a common center, each enclosing many oval seeds inserted
in the superior suture.
Habitat.--Luzon, Mindanao, Cebú, Iloilo. Blooms in March.
_Sterculia urens_, Roxb. (_S. cordifolia_, Blanco; _Cavallium urens_,
Schott. & Endl.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Banilad_, Tag.
Uses.--The root bark is pounded up and applied locally in orchitis
and in severe contusions with supposed fracture of the bones; native
charlatans pretend to cure the latter condition by this treatment.
The trunk exudes a sort of gum, which with water forms a sort of
colorless, odorless gelatin which dissolves at the boiling point. I
do not know to what use this gum is applied in therapeutics, but it
is often found mixed with the Senegambian gum acacia.
Botanical Description.--A tree with leaves bunched, 7-9-veined,
heart-shaped, ovate, broad and entire, glabrous upper surface,
short white down on lower surface. Petioles of same length as the
leaves. Flowers small, yellow, numerous, polygamous, growing in
large, terminal panicles covered with a fine, sticky down. Calyx
bell-shaped, 5 acute papyraceous divisions, each bearing a small
gland near its base. No corolla. Stamens 10, united in a column, the
upper ends free. Five pods joined at one point, half-moon shaped,
with woody shell, glabrous within and with a short down on the
outer surface. Three or four kidney-shaped seeds, the testa thin
and crustaceous.
Habitat.--Cebú, Iloilo.
_Kleinhovia hospitata_, L.
Nom. Vulg.--_Tanag_, Tag., Vis.; _Hamitanago_, Vis.; _Panampat_,
Pam.; _Bitnong_, Iloc.
Uses.--The decoction of the leaves is used, according to P. Blanco,
to cure the itch. It is also used locally in all forms of dermatitis,
and the tender leaves and sprouts are cooked and eaten.
Botanical Description.--Tree 25° high or more, with leaves alternate,
heart-shaped, pubescent, almost entire. Petioles long with 2 stipules
at the base. Flowers red, axillary, in large panicles. Calyx, 5 sepals,
almost linear. Corolla the same size as the calyx, 5 linear petals,
the lower shorter and curved. Nectary bell-shaped, of 5 parts, each
3-toothed; set on a column; at its base a wavy fringe with dentate
edge. Stamens 15. No filaments. Anthers seated on the 15 teeth of
the nectary. Ovary within the nectary, 5-angled, 5 apartments each
containing an almost spherical seed.
Habitat.--Luzon, Mindanao, Panay, Cebú, Joló. Flowers in March and
September.
_Helicteres Isora_, L. (_H. chrysocalyx_, Miq.; _H. Roxburghii_,
G. Don.)
Nom. Vulg.--(?); _Indian Screw Tree_, Eng.
Uses.--I am ignorant of the use that the Filipinos make of this
plant, though it is very possible that they do not employ it at all
in medicine, which is usually the case with those plants to which they
have given no name. In India the peculiar spiral form of the fruit has
suggested its application, according to the theories of the doctrine
of symbolism. Ainslie says that the Hindoos use it to treat diseases
of the external auditory canal. On account of its emollient properties
and probably on account of its twisted form, it is used internally as
a decoction, in flatulence and the intestinal colic of children. It
is indispensable in the marriage ceremonies of the caste of Vaisya,
among whom it is customary for the groom to wear on his wrists in
the form of bracelets, strings of this fruit combined with that of
_Randia dumetorum_.
The root yields a juice which is employed in skin diseases, in abscess,
acid in cardialgia. In Jamaica the juice of the leaves is sometimes
used for constipation.
Botanical Description.--A small tree with leaves alternate, simple,
entire, irregularly nerved or veined at the base, petiolate. Flowers
of a handsome red color, hermaphrodite, regular, axillary. Calyx
gamosepalous, tubular, of 5 parts. Corolla, 5 free petals slightly
dentate at the point. Stamens numerous, united on a free column on the
cusp. Compound nectary of 5 unilocular, many-ovuled ovaries. Styles 5,
joined at the base. Fruit of 5 carpels, thin, twisted on themselves
in spirals, forming a cone, pubescent, of a greenish-brown color,
each containing a single row of angular seeds.
Habitat.--Luzon, Panay.
_Abroma fastuosa_, R. Br. (_A. angulata_, Lam.; _A. communis_, Blanco;
_A. augusta_, L.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Anibong_, Tag.; _Anabo_, Vis.; _Perennial Indian Hemp_,
Eng.
Uses.--The root bark is used in India as an emmenagogue in the
congestive and neuralgic forms of amenorrhoea. It seems to act as
a uterine tonic. The dose is 2 grams of the juice of the fresh root
mixed with pepper which also acts as a carminative and stomachic.
Botanical Description.--A shrub 3-4 meters high with hairy
branches. Leaves opposite, oval, oblong, serrate, tomentose. Flowers
purple, solitary, terminal. Calyx, 5 sepals. Corolla, 5 petals. Stamens
5, united in the form of a tube. Ovary sessile, with 5 many-ovuled
compartments. Styles 5, united in the form of a tube which divides
into 5 stigma-bearing branches. Capsule membranous, 5-angled, truncate,
dehiscent at apex. Seeds albuminous, covered with filaments of cotton.
Habitat.--San Mateo, La Laguna, Batangas, Iloilo.
_Theobroma Cacao_, L.
Nom. Vulg.--_Cacao._
Uses.--The roasted bean ground with sugar constitutes chocolate,
one of the most generally used foods of the Philippines.
It is very nutritious by virtue of the fat and sugar it contains,
but all stomachs do not bear it well and its use is the unsuspected
cause of much dyspepsia. The custom of drinking it very hot and
following with a large quantity of cold water is a very common
cause of dilatation of the stomach in the Philippines. The seed
of the cacao contains several substances: cacao butter, albumin,
theobromine, starch, glucose, gum, tartaric acid, free or combined,
tannin, and mineral substances. Of these the butter and theobromine
are the most important.
Theobromine (C_7_H_8_N_4_O_2_) is a weak alkaloid, crystalline,
slightly bitter, slightly soluble in cold water, more soluble in hot
water, less soluble in alcohol and ether; stable in the air up to
100°; sublimes without decomposition at 290° in microscopic crystals
of the form of rhomboid prisms ending in an octohedric point (Keller).
This alkaloid is very little used in therapeutics and its physiological
action is said to be analogous to that of caffeine but weaker. It
is better to use the salt of the alkaloid, and that most frequently
employed is the salicylate of soda and theobromine in doses of from
2 to 6 grams daily in solution or pill. Lately, however, Dr. Gram
has maintained that theobromine is a powerful diuretic operating when
other diuretics fail and further that this effect is produced without
injuring the heart. The double salt is non-toxic, though sometimes in
exceedingly weak patients it produces vertigo. Dr. Gram administers
6 grams a day in one-gram doses.
Cacao butter is a white substance, slightly yellowish, unctuous to
the touch, brittle; with the agreeable odor peculiar to cacao, and a
sweet and pleasant taste. Its density is 0.961, it melts at 30°-33°,
and solidifies at 25°. It dissolves in 20 parts of boiling alcohol,
in 100 parts of cold alcohol and in twice its weight of benzin. Cacao
butter is obtained by grinding or mashing the roasted seeds in a hot
apparatus and mixing the mass with a fifth or tenth of its weight of
boiling water. It is then pressed between two hot iron plates and
the butter thus obtained is refined by boiling water. It is then
put aside in earthen pans, or still better, in moulds, where it
solidifies. It does not easily become rancid and, for this reason,
enters into the composition of many ointments and pomades, or is
used alone. It serves as the base for suppositories and is, finally,
a highly valued cosmetic. A common substitute is made by mixing oil
of almonds, wax and animal fat.
Before going further let us describe the composition of Spanish
chocolate according to the French chemist Boussingault:
Cane sugar 41.40 grams.
Cacao butter 29.24 grams.
Starch, glucose 1.48 grams.
Theobromine 1.93 grams.
Asparagin a trace
Albumin 6.25 grams.
Gum 1.42 grams.
Tartaric acid 1.98 grams.
Tannin and coloring matter 0.022 grams.
Soluble cellulose 6.21 grams.
Ash 2.34 grams.
Water 4.36 grams.
Undetermined material 3.27 grams.
------
100.00
Botanical Description.--A small tree about 10° high, with leaves broad,
6-12' long, hanging or drooping, lanceolate, entire, and somewhat
pubescent on both surfaces. Petioles very short with 2 deciduous
stipules at the base. Flowers in clusters on the roots, trunk and
branches. Peduncle very long. Nectary divided in 5 parts, straight,
awl-shaped and 2-nerved. Calyx, 5 sepals. Corolla, 5 petals curved
upward in the form of a bow as far as the middle, where they form a
hollow with two little horns; then curving downwards, then upwards,
widening at the end, the edge finely dentate. Stamens 5, inserted on
the nectary, and alternating with the lobes of the latter. Anthers
2 on each filament, concealed in the hollows of the petals. Ovary
globose. Style awl-shaped. Stigma cleft almost to the middle,
5-parted. Fruit broad, spindle-shaped, 4' or more long, dark reddish,
warty, 10-ribbed, with 5 compartments each containing many compressed,
ovoid seeds.
Habitat.--Common in orchards and gardens throughout the islands.
GERANIACEÆ.
Geranium Family.
_Oxalis corniculata_, L. (_O. Acetosella_, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Taingan dogá, Susokayoli_, Tag.; _Darasig_, Vis.;
_Malabalugbug dagis_, _Ayo_, _Kongi_, _Yayo_, Pam.; _Indian Sorrel_,
Eng.
Uses.--The part of the plant used in medicine is the leaf which is acid
by virtue of the potassium oxalate which it contains. The decoction is
used internally as an antipyretic in fevers and in dysentery. Mistaking
the properties of the plant it is given for vesical calculus which,
if composed of oxalates, would be increased instead of diminished by
the treatment. In fact the salt of sorrel in the leaves contains a
large quantity of oxalic acid mixed with potassium oxalate. In China,
India and the Philippines the entire plant is used as an antiscorbutic.
The cold infusion of the leaves is given internally in doses of from
30 to 60 grams, but it is not a medicine to be given indiscriminately,
because in addition to its power of adding to the bulk of calculi of
the oxalates, the contained potassium oxalate is poisonous in doses
of 25 to 30 grams. If a concentrated solution is taken, it operates as
a corrosive poison, producing violent pains in the stomach, vomiting,
faintness and great weakness. If the solution is dilute its absorption
is rapid and it operates very energetically. When a patient is poisoned
by a concentrated solution, the stomach-pump is contraindicated,
because the mucous membrane of the organ is corroded and ulcerated;
if by a dilute solution, use the pump to remove as much of the poison
as possible. The best antidote is a watery solution of a soluble salt
of lime, _i. e._, the saccharate, which forms an insoluble salt with
oxalic acid.
The juice of the leaves is an antidote for the _Datura_
(Stramonium). In India they make a decoction of the plant, mix it with
onion juice and apply it to the head as a fomentation in hemicrania.
Botanical Description.--A plant 1° high, with a creeping, glabrous
stem, leaves horizontal, ternate with common long petiole. Leaflets
sessile, obcordate, with downy borders. Flowers axillary or terminal,
from 1 to 3 in number on a common long peduncle. The pedicel is
also long. Calyx common to the family. Corolla, 5 petals ending in
small claws. Stamens 10, monadelphous, the 5 shorter ones bearing
each a small gland on the outer surface of the base. Ovary large,
fluted. Styles 5, short. Stigmas hemispherical. Seed vessel pyramidal,
containing many seeds enveloped in an elastic aril by which they are
ejected when the fruit opens.
Habitat.--Abundant in Luzon, Panay and Cebú.
_Biophytum sensitivum_, DC. (_B. cumiagianum_, Turez.; _Oxalis
sensitivum_, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Makahiya_, _Damonghiya_, Tag.; _Mahihiin_, Iloc.
Uses.--A decoction of the leaves is used internally as an
expectorant. The bruised leaves are used as an application to wounds
and contusions. In Java the decoction is used internally in asthma,
phthisis and snake bites.
The peculiar property which this plant possesses of closing its
leaves when touched, has caused the natives of India to attribute
to it mysterious virtues. Symbolism has determined its therapeutic
application and the Hindoos pretend that it endows with delicacy and
modesty women who lack these virtues and that it restores virginity.
Botanical Description.--A plant about 7' high. Stem straight, nodose
and without branches. Leaves abruptly pinnate, the place of the odd
leaflet taken by a stylet. The leaflets nearly linear with a small
point at the apex, 11-13 pairs, 2 stipules to each pair. Common
petioles long, cleft at the base and disposed in whorls around and
on the end of the stem. Flowers sessile, verticillate, on the ends
of several very long peduncles which rise from the midst of the
petioles. Calyx, 5 sepals. Corolla, 5 petals, clawed, rounded at the
end and slightly notched, forming a tube. Stamens 10, free. A small
gland on the outer surface of the base of each short stamen. Styles
5. Seed vessels ovate, 5-angled, containing many seeds.
Habitat.--Common in all parts of the islands.