The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Part 8

_Sterculia foetida_, L. (_S. polyphilla_, R. Br.; _Clompa.n.u.s 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 p.u.b.escent 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, Cebu, 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 sh.e.l.l, glabrous within and with a short down on the outer surface. Three or four kidney-shaped seeds, the testa thin and crustaceous.

Habitat.--Cebu, 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 dermat.i.tis, and the tender leaves and sprouts are cooked and eaten.

Botanical Description.--Tree 25 high or more, with leaves alternate, heart-shaped, p.u.b.escent, 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, Cebu, Jolo. 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 ca.n.a.l. 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, p.u.b.escent, 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 alb.u.minous, 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 const.i.tutes 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 quant.i.ty 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 b.u.t.ter, alb.u.min, theobromine, starch, glucose, gum, tartaric acid, free or combined, tannin, and mineral substances. Of these the b.u.t.ter 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 a.n.a.logous 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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter is obtained by grinding or mas.h.i.+ng the roasted seeds in a hot apparatus and mixing the ma.s.s with a fifth or tenth of its weight of boiling water. It is then pressed between two hot iron plates and the b.u.t.ter 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 subst.i.tute 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 b.u.t.ter 29.24 grams.

Starch, glucose 1.48 grams.

Theobromine 1.93 grams.

Asparagin a trace Alb.u.min 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 p.u.b.escent on both surfaces. Petioles very short with 2 deciduous stipules at the base. Flowers in cl.u.s.ters 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.