The toxic dose is 1 gram of dried plant for each kilogram of weight of the animal.
Botanical Description.—A small creeping plant with milky juice. Stem 1–2° high, cylindrical, hairy and reddish in color. Leaves opposite, obliquely ovate, rhomboid, serrate, hairy. Petioles very short. Two pointed stipules at the base. Flowers yellowish in hemispherical umbels of 5 divisions, each subdivided in 2. Involucre universal. Calyx bell-shaped, laciniate, in 5 parts. Corolla, 5 petals, inserted on the divisions of the calyx, fleshy, orbicular, with an orbicular appendix at the base, concave and differing from the corolla in color. Stamens 8, inserted on the base of the calyx; filaments unequal in length, each bearing 2 anthers. Four filaments lacking anthers. Ovary with stalk longer than the flower, curved downward. Styles 3, bifid. Stigmas simple. Seed vessels 3, united, hairy, 3-angled, each bearing 1 red globose seed with a wrinkled surface.
Habitat.—Common in all parts of the islands and well known to the natives. The name by which it is best known in Manila is “golondrina.”
Euphorbia neriifolia, L. (E. ligularia, Roxb.; E. pentagona, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.—Sorosoro, Sorog-sorog, Bait, Tag., Pam.; Karambauaya, Iloc.; Lengua de perro, Sp.-Fil.
Uses.—The principal medicinal use of this plant in the Philippines is the introduction of the hot juice of its fleshy leaves into the external auditory canal in cases of otorrhœa or of simple earache, whatever its cause.
The root is regarded in India as an antidote for snake bite and, indeed, the plant is sacred to Munsa, the snake divinity. During the months of July and August in some parts of India the natives make offerings of rice, milk and sugar to this sacred tree every Tuesday and Thursday, praying for protection from the bites of serpents.
The leaves contain an abundance of milky juice, acrid and very active, used in the treatment of several skin diseases. Like the species E. pilulifera it possesses antiasthmatic properties; Dr. S. C. Amcobury reports 6 cases treated with satisfactory results. Owing to the acrid quality of the juice great care should be maintained both in its internal and external use. The Sanscrit authors regard it as purgative and usually administer it with other drugs of the same action to increase its effect. Ainslie states that the native herb-doctors of India give the juice in intestinal obstruction and in the œdema of malarial cachexia. The dose is 1.25 grams in 24 hours given in 300 cc. of sweetened water in divided doses. This dose is, in my opinion, dangerous; 40–60 centigrams a day is more prudent.
Botanical Description.—A small tree, from 5 to 6° high. Trunk erect, jointed, 5-sided, at the angles 2 rows of thorns. Leaves spatulate, fleshy. Flowers yellowish. Calyx bell-shaped, 5-lobed. Corolla, numerous imbricated, spatulate petals with ravelled or fringed ends. Stamens in groups. Styles 3. Stigma coarse. Seed vessel, 3 carpels on a stalk.
Habitat.—In all parts of Luzon.