Nom. Vulg.—Toktok-kaló, Tag.
Uses.—The milky juice of the plant is emetic and purgative. The chemist De Vry has isolated from it a poisonous alkaloid analogous to “thevetin,” which has just been considered. The seeds are likewise emetic and toxic. The Javanese call the fruit “bimaro” and affirm that it possesses the same properties as “datura.” The bruised leaves are used locally for hepatic eruptions; the bark is used for the same purpose and is purgative.
The use of the plant is dangerous and is condemned by the Pharmacopœia of India.
Botanical Description.—A small shrub with forked branches. Leaves (overlapping) at ends of branches, lanceolate, entire, glabrous. Flowers in umbellate spikes. Calyx, 5 caducous lobules. Corolla white, twisted, cylindrical, with salver-shaped limb divided in 5 rhomboid lobes, throat stellate and woolly. Stamens 5. Filaments joined to the corolla, their ends thickened. Anthers arrow-shaped. Ovary, 2 uniovulate locules. Style, same length as stamens. Stigma thick, conical, lobulate. Two drupes joined at the base (one usually aborted), brown, large, oval, fleshy, with woody fibrous nut of a single flattened seed.
Habitat.—Luzon. Blooms in July.
Plumeria acutifolia, Poir. (P. alba, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.—Calachuche, Sp.-Fil.; Kalatsutsi, Kalasusi, Tag.
Uses.—This tree, beloved for its fragrant flowers, has a wide therapeutic use in India and the Philippines. The bark is a bitter hydragogue cathartic and is given in decoction (5–10 grams to 200 water) principally for dropsy; however the milky juice of the trunk is preferable for this purpose, given in emulsion in doses of 0.50–0.80 grams. The bark and the tips of the branches are given as an emmenagogue.
The bark of the root and of the trunk is an excellent remedy for blenorrhagia. The fresh bark is thoroughly comminuted and mixed with sweetened water in the proportion of 60 grams to 4 liters; this mixture is put in the sun for 4 days, and shaken from time to time. It is then strained and given in doses of 4–5 glassfuls a day, at the same time with refreshing and emollient drinks, and prolonged tepid baths. At first this preparation exerts a purgative action, but later acts upon the urinary organs, rapidly lessening the suppurative process in urethritis. The bark may also be associated with wine or beer, in the proportion of 30 grains to the liter, the dose being 2–4 small cupfuls a day and Dr. Grosourdy employs the extract of the bark in doses aggregating 0.20–0.25 gram a day, gradually increased till at the end of a week 6 grams are taken daily (Dr. J. Amadeo).
The bruised leaves are applied locally to contusions to reduce the swelling. The juice is used externally as a rubefacient in rheumatic affections of the joints. In Concan they use a decoction of the root for diarrhœa. The flower buds are chewed with buyo, for intermittent fever and the juice is applied locally for itch.