The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Part 30

Extract of Kaladana.--Dose, 30-60 centigrams in pill.

Powdered seeds 500 grams.

Alcohol 2 liters.

Water 4 1/2 liters.

Tincture of Kaladana.--Dose, 8-12 grams.

Seeds 75 grams.

Alcohol 500 grams.

Compound Powder of Kaladana.--Dose, 3-3 1/2 grams.

Powdered seeds 150 grams.

Acid tartrate of pota.s.sium 270 grams.

Powdered ginger 30 grams.

The last is an excellent subst.i.tute for the corresponding preparation of jalap.

Resin of Kaladana.--Dose, 30-50 centigrams. It is prepared like resin of jalap and is a safe and sure purgative. In ma.s.s it has a dark color, but is gray when powdered. The odor is rather unpleasant, the taste sweetish and then acrid, nauseous, persistent, exciting the saliva and irritating the fauces. It was introduced into practice by Dr. G. Vidie.

Botanical Description.--A twiner with round, downy stem. Leaves heart-shaped, 3-lobed, the middle one broad-lanceolate, the lateral ones rather rectangular with petioles of equal length with the leaves. Flowers large, rose color or pale blue, in axillary cymes of 2 or 3 flowers each. Calyx, 5 long, downy parts. Corolla bell-shaped, 5 faint lobes. Stamens 5, free, inserted in the corolla. Ovary free, 3 biovulate locules. Style simple. Stigma trilobed. Seed vessels globose with 3 locules each containing 2 seeds. Seeds convex on dorsum, 1/2 cm. broad by 1 cm. long, testa black.

Habitat.--Manila. Blooms in August.

_Ipomoea pes-caprae_, Roth. (_Convolvulus pes-caprae_ L. and Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Katagkatag_, _Lagayray_, _Lampayog_, _Bagasoa_, _Kamigag_, _Daripay_, _Tagaray_, _Arodayday_, _Lambayog_, Tag., Vis.; _Lambayog_, Iloc.

Uses.--The dry, powdered leaves are dusted over bruises and ulcers. The entire plant is very mucilaginous and the bruised fresh leaves are applied like poultices to cancers and ulcerating tumors. In India the boiled leaves are applied locally in colic and in rheumatism; the juice is given internally in dropsy as a diuretic, the pounded leaves at the same time serving as a poultice to the oedematous parts.

Botanical Description.--A plant that creeps extensively, the stem taking root. Leaves with 2 well-marked lobules. Flowers rose-lilac color, in axillary panicles with long pedicels. Corolla very large, bell-shaped, the limb 5-angled and 5-nerved. Stamens 5, unequal in height. Stigma globose, marked by a line; later it divides in two. Seed vessel ovate, 2-celled, in each cell 2 downy seeds convex on one side, angular on the other.

Habitat.--Very common on the seash.o.r.e. Blooms in January.

_Ipomoea Turpethum_, R. Br. (_Convolvulus Turpethum_, L.; _C. maximus_, Blanco.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Albohol_, Sp.; _Turpeth Root_, _Indian Jalap_, Eng.

Uses.--The root, known in the Philippines as "turbita," is a purgative and is a component part of the tincture of jalap, one of the most positive and active of known cathartics. But turpeth root is seldom used alone, for its action is so uncertain that Sir W. O'Shaughnessy p.r.o.nounced the plant unworthy of a place in the Pharmacopoeia of India. The dose of the powder is 1-4 grams, the resin 40-50 cgms., the decoction of the root 4-12 grams. The active principle is a resin soluble in ether and a glucoside, _turpethin_, C_34_H_56_O_16_.

In the east of India they make offerings of the flowers to the G.o.d s.h.i.+va, and also put them to more practical use by applying them to the head for neuralgic headache.

Botanical Description.--A vine with quadrangular stem. Leaves heart-shaped. Flowers axillary, numerous, in umbels. Calyx deeply cleft in 5 imbricated, ovate, fleshy parts. Corolla bell-shaped, folded. Stamens 5, unequal in height. Ovary inserted on an hypogynous disk, with 2 biovulate compartments. Style same length as stamens. Stigma bilobulate, globose. Seed vessel square, encircled by calyx, 2 locules each with 2 seeds.

Habitat.--Common in Bauang and Pasig. Blooms in November.

SOLANACEae.

Nightshade Family.

_Solanum nigrum_, L.

Nom. Vulg.--_Hierba mora_, Sp.; _Konty_, _Onty_, _Gamagamatisan_, Tag.; _Lagpakon_, _Bolagtob_, _Lubilubi_, Vis.; _Kuty_, _Lubilubi_, Bic.; _Black_ or _Common Nightshade_, Eng.

Uses.--In the Philippines the entire plant is boiled and used for food, with the precaution of pouring off the first 2 or 3 waters in which it is cooked, which contain an active principle capable of causing such disagreeable symptoms as vertigo and nausea. A decoction of the leaves serves to cleanse chronic sores and in fact improves their condition; it is also used as a lotion for various forms of dermat.i.tis, for erysipelas and old burns.

The plant is narcotic, antispasmodic and like belladonna it dilates the pupil.

In India the decoction is given internally, 200-250 grams, for hypertrophy of the liver, and it is considered a good diuretic and alterative. For such uses they heat the above dose in a clay vessel till the color changes from green to brown, when it is cooled and given next day. Its action is diuretic and hydragogue-cathartic. Mooden Sheriff recommends this treatment highly, and for dropsy further advises the aqueous extract, 12 grams during the day divided into 3 or 4 doses. Small doses of 30-60 grams of the decoction prepared as above described, are of use in some chronic skin diseases such as psoriasis.

In 1821 Defosses, of Besancon, obtained _solanine_ from the fruit, previously isolated from the _S. Dulcamara_.

Botanical Description.--A plant about 2 high, stem straight, 3-4-angled, with white dots. Leaves lanceolate. Flowers white, in 2-ranked racemes. Calyx inferior, 5 persistent teeth. Corolla, 5 petals somewhat down-curved. Berry small, black when ripe.

Habitat.--Universally common. Blooms in January.

_Capsic.u.m fastigiatum_, Bl. (_C. minimum_, Roxb.)

Nom. Vulg.--_Chili picante_, Sp.-Fil.; _Sili_, Tag.; _Capsic.u.m_, _Red Pepper_, etc., Eng.

Uses.--The fruit of this species of pepper plant is called _agi_ in Cuba and Porto Rico; it is in common use as a condiment in the Philippines. As a tonic and stimulant it is a useful article of food in hot countries where the digestive functions become sluggish. Used in moderation it prevents dyspepsia and consequent diarrhoea. It is used as a gargle for hoa.r.s.eness, decreasing the congestion of the larynx and vocal cords.

Gargle.--

Tincture of capsic.u.m 8 grams.

Water 160 grams.

Mix.