Nom. Vulg.—Kayutana, Tag.; Salay, Saladay, Vis.
Uses.—The trunk bark is stimulant and is used as a sudorific in the treatment of fevers. The fresh bark is quite irritating, for which reason it is best to use bark taken from the more mature parts of the trunk, powdered and desiccated. The dose is 1/2–2 grams 2–3 times a day. Its stimulating properties render it useful in colic and in India it is used as a stomachic and digestive. Is seems also to possess diuretic properties.
Botanical Description.—A tree 30–35° high, with trunk thickly set with large spines. Leaves odd-pinnate. Leaflets ovate, acute, obtusely serrate, small transparent vesicles on the surface, spines on the midrib and common petiole. Calyx very small, monophyllous. Corolla twice as large as the calyx, 4 petals. Stamens 4, inserted on the receptacle, the same length as the petals. Ovary superior, 4-angled. No style. Stigmas 2.
Habitat.—Batangas, Morong, Manila.
Murraya exotica, L. (M. paniculata, Jack.; Connarus fœtens, and C. santaloides, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.—Kamunig̃, Tag.
Uses.—The leaves are stimulant and astringent, and are used in infusion (15 grams, to water one liter) to treat diarrhea and dysentery. The root and trunk barks are used for the same treatment and they as well as the leaves owe their properties to an essential oil and a bitter principle present in all parts of the plant. Vry has demonstrated the presence of a glucoside which he has named murrayin (C18H22O10); it crystallizes in small, white needles, is slightly bitter, soluble in hot water and alcohol, insoluble in ether, slightly soluble in cold water. It melts at 170°, and dissolves in alkaline solutions coloring them green. Boiled in dilute acids it splits into murrayetin and glucose. Murrayetin (C12H12O10) crystallizes in white needles, inodorous, tasteless, slightly soluble in cold water and in ether, soluble in hot water and alcohol. Heat destroys its green color in solutions; alkalies, in the presence of cold, increase it. The leaves and the bark of the plant contain an essential oil.
The foregoing description of this species applies equally well to the following species.
Botanical Description.—A small tree 12° high with leaves alternate, odd-pinnate. Leaflets lanceolate, almost entire, rigid with small dots on each surface. Flowers in axillary, very short, compound racemes. Calyx very small, monophyllous, 5 lanceolate lobules. Corolla much longer than the calyx, 5 lanceolate petals. Stamens 10, joined, but not entirely united at the base; 5 alternate stamens longer than the others. Anthers sessile, regular. Ovary superior, compressed and borne on a disc. Style 1, same length as the stamens. Stigma thick, depressed, apparently 4-angled. Fruit fleshy, ovoid, acute and somewhat curved at the end enclosing a seed with coriaceous, downy testa.