Baup obtained several principles from it: (1) A resin, brein, fusible at 187°, soluble in cold alcohol, crystallizable in oblique rhombic prisms; (2) another crystalline substance, bryoidin, soluble in 360 parts water at 10°, and melting at 13°; (3) a small amount of breidin, a body soluble in 260 parts water and melting at 100°+; (4) another resin soluble in boiling alcohol, called amyrin.
White pitch is used in the Philippines to make plasters which they apply to the back and breast of patients suffering from bronchial or pulmonary complaints; it is also applied to indolent ulcers. We believe that elemi possesses the same properties as copaiba, and that its indications for internal use are the same.
Botanical Description.—A tree 30–40 meters high, with leaves alternate, odd-pinnate; leaflets opposite, coriaceous. Flowers yellowish-white in axillary, compound panicles, hermaphrodite. Calyx 3-toothed. Corolla, 3 oblong, concave petals. Stamens 6, inserted on the base of the disc. Ovary free, of 3 lobules each containing 2 ovules. Style simple. Stigma, 3 lobules. Drupe oblong, size of large prune, fleshy, containing a hard, 3-sided pit.
Habitat.—Very common in all Philippine woods especially in Camarines.
Meliaceæ.
Melia Family.
Melia Azedarach, L.
Nom. Vulg.—Paraiso (Paradise), Sp.-Fil.; Pride of India, China Tree, Eng.
Uses.—The root was official in the U. S. P., 1880, as an anthelmintic; it is administered in the following form:
| Fresh root bark | 120 grams. |
| Water | 1 liter. |