Uses.—The ripe fruit possesses antiscorbutic properties; the unripe fruit is used in treating dysentery. It is said that the ripe fruit is used in diseases of the liver.
Botanical Description.—Tree with leaves oval, alternate and glabrous. Flower solitary, terminal, whitish. The fruit is much larger than that of the other species, is covered with scales that end in a soft point or thorn and has a very pronounced acid taste.
Habitat.—All three species are common in all parts of the Archipelago.
Menispermaceæ.
Moonseed Family.
Tinospora crispa, Miers. (Menispermum crispum, L.; M. rimosum, Blanco; Cocculus crispus, DC.)
Nom. Vulg.—Makabuhay, Tag.
Uses.—Makabuhay is one of the most widely known and used plants in the Philippines; a sort of panacea applied to all bodily afflictions. Its Tagalo name means literally “you may live.” A shoot deprived of roots and dropped in some moist place is soon covered with bright green leaves and adventitious roots. This peculiarity of the plant made it possible for me to take a large number of sprouts from Manila to Paris where they arrived perfectly fresh after a voyage of forty days, during which they lay almost forgotten in the ship and the cars.
The stem is the part employed in medicine. A decoction is given internally in the various forms of malarial fever and of dyspepsia. Externally it is most useful as a wash for ulcers of all kinds, rapidly improving their appearance.
In India the species T. cordifolia is used; it differs but little from T. crispa. It is official in the Pharmacopœia and has been introduced into Europe. T. cordifolia has given excellent results in the mild forms of intermittent fever; in general debility following long and severe cases of illness; in chronic rheumatism, and in the second stage of syphilis. As the two species are so much alike we shall add the preparations and dose of T. cordifolia which we have used on several occasions with good results.